What are "neuroprotective drugs"?

What are "neuroprotective drugs"?

Les Weiner (Former Chair of the Department of Neurology, University of Southern California) gives expert video advice on: How do neurologists repair nerve damage of the brain?; Why are some spinal cord injuries more serious than others?; Is there anything I can do to prevent or decrease my chances of developing a neurological disorder? and more...

Part of our approach to stroke and to other brain injury types of things, including MS and head injury, is to develop drugs that are what we call "neuroprotective." In other words, to try to develop drugs that will prevent you having an injury or an insult; that the axon doesn't die. In other words, you prevent the axon from dying. And we think the mechanisms for why the axon dies with a head injury or in a stroke are being defined now. There are now a whole bunch of factors which include free radicals, there's what we call "excited toxic effects" where if you overstimulate a nerve it will die. You can't inhibit a nerve to death but you can stimulate it to death. So you want to protect from these kinds of things.