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COX-2 inhibition by parecoxib and ischemic brain injury

Eduardo Candelario-Jalil   (24 January 2007)  Department of Neurology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

It is widely accepted that neuroinflammation is one of the mechanisms known to participate in the evolution of ischemic brain injury. Inhibition of the inducible isoform of cyclooxygenase (COX-2) has been shown to be neuroprotective in several models of brain damage including ischemic stroke. The article by Kelsen et al. provides additional information on the effects of parecoxib (the only COX-2 inhibitor clinically approved for intravenous administration) in an in vivo model of cerebral ischemia in rats. This is the first study to document the beneficial effects of a COX-2 inhibitor using the MRI technology. Interestingly, parecoxib treatment reduced ADC abnormalities one week after ischemia, which indicates, for the first time, the involvement of COX-2 in edema formation following ischemic stroke. Methods are sound and very well described. This study provides an interesting insight into the protective effect of parecoxib, and this report is a good example of how pre-clinical studies should be performed, in order to evaluate the neuroprotective efficacy of new drugs for the treatment of cerebral ischemia.

Competing interests

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