Mechanism underlying the protective effect of Kaixin Jieyu Fang on vascular depression following cerebral white matter damage

The Chinese compound Kaixin fieyu Fang can be used to treat vascular depression; however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study established a rat model of chronic cerebral ischemia-caused white matter damage by ligation of the bilateral common carotid arteries. Rats received daily intragastric administration of a suspension of Kaixin ]ieyu Fang powder. After 3, 7 and 21 days of treatment, the degree of white matter damage in the cerebral ischemia rat model was alleviated, Bcl-2 protein and mRNA expression in brain tissue increased, and Bax protein and mRNA expression decreased. These results indicate that Kaixin Jieyu Fang can alleviate cere- bral white matter damage, and the underlying mechanism is associated with regulation of Bcl-2/ Bax protein and mRNA expression, which is one of possible mechanism behind the protective effect of Kaixin Jieyu Fang against vascular depression.

Neuroprotective effects of kaempferol against 2VO-induced chronic cerebral ischemia in rats

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of kaempferol(KAE)on chronic cerebral ischemia in rats.METHODS Chronic cerebral ischemia was induced in rats by permanent occlusion of bilateral common carotid arteries(2VO).Then,the rats with chronic cerebral ischemia were randomly divied into three groups:model group,KAE 10 and 30 mg·kg-1group.Another group rats without occlusion of common carotid arteries were used as the sham-operation group.Memory behavior was investigated by Morris water maze test.Prehensile ability was investigated by prehensile traction test.The structure of hippocampus and cortex neurons was observed with Nissel staining.In addition,the SOD activity and MDA content in brain tissue were determined.The DJ-1protein level was determined by Western blotting.RESULTS KAE 10 and 30 mg·kg-1could significantly improve cognitive impairment and prehensile traction ability(P<0.01)induced by chronic cerebral ischemia in rats.The results of the pathological analysis also suggested that KAE could ameliorate the pathological damage induced by chronic cerebral ischemia.In addition,KAE 30 mg·kg-1significantly increased the activity of SOD(P<0.05),but had no effect on the content of MDA in rat brain tissue.Western-blotting confirmed that KAE 10 and30 mg·kg-1could increase the expression of anti-oxidation proteins DJ-1 in hippocampus(P<0.01).CONCLUSION KAE may attenuate the chronic cerebral ischemic injury in rats.

Curcumin alters expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein and nestin following chronic cerebral ischemia

Astrocytes can alter their appearance and become reactive following chronic cerebral ischemia. In the present study, a rat model of chronic cerebral ischemia was treated with 50 and 100 mg/kg curcumin. Results showed that pathological changes of neuronal injury in hippocampal CA1 area of rats induced by chronic cerebral ischemia were attenuated, as well as upregulated expression of glial fibriliary acidic protein and nestin, in a dose-dependent manner.

Resveratrol improves cognition and reduces oxidative stress in rats with vascular dementia

Resveratrol possesses beneficial biological effects, which include anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties. Recently, resveratrol has been shown to exhibit neuroprotective effects in models of Parkinson＇s disease, cerebral ischemia and Alzheimer＇s disease. However, its effects on vascular dementia remain unclear. The present study established a rat model of vascular dementia using permanent bilateral common carotid artery occlusion. At 8-12 weeks after model induction, rats were intragastrically administered 25 mg/kg resveratrol daily. Our results found that resveratrol shortened the escape latency and escape distances in the Morris water maze, and pro- longed the time spent percentage and swimming distance percentage in the target quadrant during the probe test, indicating that resveratrol improved learning and memory ability in vascular dementia rats. Further experiments found that resveratrol decreased malonyldialdehyde levels, and increased superoxide dismutase activity and glutathione levels in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex of vascular dementia rats. These results confirmed that the neuroprotective effects of resveratrol on vascular dementia were associated with its anti-oxidant properties.

Information entropy-based fitting of the disease trajectory of brain ischemia-induced vascular cognitive impairment

The present study investigated the disease trajectory of vascular cognitive impairment using the entropy of information in a neural network mathematical simulation based on the free radical and excitatory amino acids theories. Glutamate, malondialdehyde, and inducible nitric oxide synthase content was significantly elevated, but acetylcholine, catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and constitutive nitric oxide synthase content was significantly decreased in our vascular cognitive impairment model. The fitting curves for each factor were obtained using Matlab software. Nineteen, 30 and 49 days post ischemia were the main output time frames of the influence of these seven factors. Our results demonstrated that vascular cognitive impairment involves multiple factors. These factors include excitatory amino acid toxicity and nitric oxide toxicity. These toxicities disrupt the dynamic equilibrium of the production and removal of oxygen free radicals after cerebral ischemia, reducing the ability to clear oxygen free radicals and worsening brain injury.

Voltage-dependent potassium channel Kv4.2 promotes neurogenesis and alleviates isch⁃emic stroke impairments

OBJECTIVE Stroke has become the top ten leading cause of death in China.Isch⁃emic stroke accounts for 85%of stroke cases,and insufficiency of cerebral blood supply caused by atherosclerosis is one of the important causes of ischemic stroke.Therefore,it is of posi⁃tive significance to study the molecular mecha⁃nism of stroke injury caused by hypoperfusion in the search for drug targets.Voltage-dependent potassium channels are a family of potassium channels widely expressed in the central ner⁃vous system.However,their roles in neurogene⁃sis after stroke insults have not been clearly illus⁃trated.The purpose of this experiment is to explore the expression changes of different sub⁃families of voltage-dependent potassium chan⁃nels after the occurrence of ischemic stroke and their influence on neuroregeneration,to study the molecular mechanism of stroke injury caused by hypoperfusion,and to find potential targets for drug therapy of ischemic stroke.METHODS C57BL/6 mice aged 7-8 weeks and C17.2 cells were used in vivo and in vitro in the experiment.The mice in the experimental group were suf⁃fered from bilateral common carotid artery occlu⁃sion(BCCO)for 1 h and reperfusion for 7 d.In the control group,bilateral carotid artery was dis⁃sected without occlusion.Behavioral assay of suspension test were performed to assess the motor deficits of the mice.In this assay,the time of the first drop(latency),the number of drops within one minute(frequency),and the final scores were recorded as the results of athletic ability.A lower score indicated more severe motor damage of the mice.TTC staining was used to observe the cerebral infarction areas caused by ligation of bilateral common carotid arteries.After seven days,mice were sacrificed and brain tissue protein samples were collected for real-time quantitative PCR(RT-PCR)and Western blotting test to detect the changes of potassium channel subfamily expression levels in different brain regions.Neuronal injuries in all brain regions were detected using Nissl staining methods 7 d following model establishment.To detect the effects and the underlying mechanism of the related potassium channel on neurogene⁃sis,recombinant plasmids of the potassium chan⁃nels were transfected in cultured C17.2 neural stem cells.Afterwards,oxygen glucose depriva⁃tion experiments were performed.RESULTS Behavioral tests showed that BCCO can cause impaired motor performance.TTC staining showed that cerebral infarction existed in the stri⁃atum region,and the motor function decline caused by the injury in this region was consistent with the behavioral experiment results which veri⁃fied the effectiveness of our surgical operation.Nissl staining revealed a large amount of neuronal cell necrosis in the cortex and striatum regions,and dense neuronal cells in the lateral ventricular limbic region,suggesting that neurogenesis may have occurred in this region.The results of real-time quantitative RT-PCR showed that among the detected potassium channels distributed in the measured nervous system,the expression of voltage-dependent potassium channel Kv4.2 decreased significantly in all brain regions after stroke,suggesting that it may be involved in the pathological process of stroke.Immunohisto⁃chemical staining showed that there was neuro⁃genesis in the subgranular zone(SGZ)and sub⁃ventricular zone(SVZ)of the mice,and Kv4.2 expression was significantly changed in the regions,suggesting that it may be involved in the regulation of neuro regeneration after stroke.The transfected Kv4.2 plasmid enhanced the dif⁃ferentiation of the C17.2 neural stem cells to neu⁃rons and astrocytes under normoxia and the oxy⁃gen-glucose deprivation,suggesting that Kv4.2 may induce the differentiation of neural stem cells after stroke.Kv4.2 could induce the neural stem cells to differentiate into neurons in vitro and in vivo,and Western blotting assay showed that Kv4.2 could up-regulate the expression level of ERK1/2,p-ERK1/2,p-STAT3,NGF,p-TtkA,and BDNF.Moreover,the calcium ions and CAMKⅡwas also increased by Kv4.2 in vitro.CONCLUSION BCCO insults can induce the expressions of the potassium channels in the brains,among which the expression of Kv4.2 is down-regulated in the cerebral cortex,hippocam⁃pus and striatum.In vitro experiments confirmed that Kv4.2 can induce the differentiation of C17.2 neural stem cells into neurons and astrocytes under the condition of normoxia and oxygen-glucose deprivation.We concluded that Kv4.2 possibly promoted neurogenesis through ERK1/2/STAT3,NGF/TrkA,and Ca2+/CAMKⅡsignal pathways after stroke.Regulating the physiologi⁃cal functions of Kv4.2 channel might contribute to the rehabilitation of neuronal damage after stroke.

Bis(7)-Tacrine Ameliorates Cognitive Impairment Caused by Cerebral Hypoperfusion in Rats

The effects ofbis(7)-tacrine, a novel acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, on cognitive impairment and neuronal degeneration induced by permanent ligation of bilateral common carotid arteries (2VO) were investigated using the Morris water maze in rats. Once daily oral administration ofbis(7)-tacrine (0.025, 0.05 and 0.1 mg?kg?1) was started 14 days after 2VO operation. Over a three-week treatmentbis(7)-tacrine effectively reversed 2VO-induced spatial memory deficits in a dose-dependent fashion. Furthermore, histological observation showedbis(7)-tacrine decreased the neuropathological changes in the 2VO rats brain. These results suggest thatbis(7)-tacrine has therapeutic potential for the treatment of dementia caused by chronic cerebral hypoperfusion.