ABSTRACT
Objective To study the effect of sodium ?-aescin on the matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and laminin (LN) expression in rats after focal cerebral ischemia and reperfusion, and provide experimental evidence for the relationship of MMP-9 and LN expression change with the neuroprotection of sodium ?-aescin. Methods The Spraque-Dawley (SD) rat model of focal cerebral ischemia and reperfusion of cerebral middle artery was prepared. Fifty-six rats were randomly divided into the normal, sham, ischemia and reperfusion, as well as ischemia and reperfusion-treated with sodium ?-aescin groups. The latter two were further divided into six subgroups according to reperfusion time interval of 3h, 6h, 12h, 24h, 72h and 7d after brain ischemia, with 4 rats in each subgroup. Immunohistochemical staining and image analysis were used to measure the expression of MMP-9 and LN in the ischemic region. Results The expression of MMP-9 started to increase at 6h, reached the peak at 12h, decreased in 24h, and reached the lowest on 7d in cerebral ischemia and reperfusion group. The expression of MMP-9 in the same time groups of the cerebral ischemia and reperfusion-treated with sodium ?-aescin group all obviously decreased (P