[High time to test hypothermia in the treatment of stroke]

There is a revived clinical interest in hypothermia as a neuroprotective intervention in brain ischemia. This originates from the experimental finding that hypothermia of only 3 degrees C-4 degrees C below normal body temperature completely abolishes neuronal damage from an ischemic insult that is lethal in normothermia. The idea that hypothermia protects cells from ischemic damage mainly by lowering metabolic rate is challenged. We propose that detrimental protein-lipid interactions in brain cells, that are activated during and following brain ischemia and that mediate adverse cellular signaling and lead to cell death, are blunted or prevented by mild hypothermia.