ABSTRACT
ObjectiveToinvestigatetheprotectiveeffectandmechanismofscutelarincombinedwith paeoniflorin after permanent cerebral ischemia in rats. Methods Forty-eight adult male SD rats w ere randomly divided into four groups: sham-operation, cerebral ischemia, scutelarin+ paeoniflorin, and cyclopamine (n=12 in each group). A model of permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion w as induced by suture method. The intraperitoneal injection of cyclopamine 6 mg/kg, a specific inhibitor of sonic hedgehog (SHH) pathw ay, at 15 min before ischemia in the cyclopamine group, w hile other groups w ere intraperitoneal y injected an equal volume of saline. At 0 hour and 3 hours after ischemia, the scutel arin+paeoniflorin group and cyclopamine group w ere intraperitoneal y injected scutel arin ( 20 mg/kg ) and paeoniflorin (30 mg/kg), while other groups were intraperitonealy injected an equal volume of saline. Neurological deficit scores w ere performed at 24 hours after ischemia, and then the rats w ere decapitated. The cerebral infarct volume w as measured by using 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining. Real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting w ere used respectively to detect the expression levels of SHH, Patched-1, Gli-1 mRNAs and proteins in the ischemic cortex. Results The neurological deficit scores in the cerebral ischemia group, scutel arin+paeoniflorin group, and cyclopamine group w ere 3.33 ±0.52, 1.50 ±0.55, and 3.67 ±0.52, respectively. The neurological deficit score in the scutel arin+paeoniflorin group w as significantly low er than that in the cerebral ischemia group ( P<0.05), and the neurological deficit score in the cyclopamine group w as significantly higher than that in the scutelarin+paeoniflorin group ( P<0.05). The infarct volume percentage in the cerebral ischemia group, scutelarin+paeoniflorin group, and cyclopamine group were 31.77%±1.19%, 22.94%±2.65%, and 35.53%±0.20%, respectively. The infarct volume in the scutel arin+paeoniflorin group w as significantly less than that in the cerebral ischemia group ( P<0.05), and the infarct volume in the cyclopamine group was significantly larger than that of the scutelarin+paeoniflorin group (P<0.05). The expression levels of SHH, Patched-1, Gli-1 mRNAs and proteins in the cerebral ischemia group, scutelarin+paeoniflorin group, and cyclopamine group w ere significantly higher than those in the sham -operation group (al P<0.05). The expression levels of SHH, Patched-1, Gli-1 mRNAs and proteins in the scutelarin+paeoniflorin group were significantly higher than those in the in the cerebral ischemia group (al P<0.05), and the expression levels of Gli-1 mRNA and protein in the cyclopamine group were significantly lower than those in the scutelarin+paeoniflorin group ( al P<0.05 ). Conclusions The scutel arin combined w ith paeoniflorin has certain protective effect on focal cerebral ischemia injury in rats. Its mechanism is associated w ith the activation of SHH signaling pathw ay.
ABSTRACT
AIM: To investigate the effect of nerve growth factor (NGF) on auditory and cochlear damage induced by brain ischemia and reperfusion. METHODS: The rats with brain ischemia and reperfusion were divided into two groups at random. In the experimental group, the rats were injected intramuscularly with NGF . In control group, the animals were injected with normal saline instead of NGF. Then the hearing loss and cochlear structural changes of rats in both groups were compared. RESULTS: It was found that the hearing loss of rats in NGF group were less significantly than that of control group ( P