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Is tissue plasminogen activator a threat to neurons?

The clot-busting drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is currently the only FDA-approved therapy for acute stroke. However, increasing evidence suggests that tPA can also contribute to excitotoxic neuronal damage in animal models of stroke. (pages 59–64)

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Figure 1: The NMDA receptor is probably composed of four subunits (inset), one of which, NR1, is illustrated here.

Bob Crimi

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Traynelis, S., Lipton, S. Is tissue plasminogen activator a threat to neurons?. Nat Med 7, 17–18 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/83289

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