DAPK1 and Stroke: However, although inhibition of DAPK1-mediated NMDAR phosphorylation by a mimetic peptide was proposed to be neuroprotective in a mouse model of stroke (Tu et al., 2010), a recent study questioned whether DAPK1 was necessary for degeneration to proceed, instead proposing that the peptide could act as a conventional NMDAR channel antagonist (McQueen et al., 2017).