ABSTRACT
Introduction @#In recent years, there has been a significant increase of cerebrovascular disease in Mongolia, which is the second leading cause of mortality. There are dozens of Mongolian traditional medicine which is good efficiency for cerebral ischemia that contains musk.@*Aim@#Therefore, we aimed to investigate the effect of musk under the cerebral ischemia/reperfusion in rats.@*Materials and Methods@#Cerebral middle cerebral artery occlusion was established in male rat (90-minute occlusion followed by 24-hour reperfusion). Rats were divided into following groups: control group, ischemia group (cerebral ischemia and reperfusion), nimodipine administrated group (cerebral ischemia and reperfusion + treated with nimodipine), musk administrated group (cerebral ischemia and reperfusion + musk 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg). The brain tissue levels of IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10 cytokines were measured using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) every 1, 3, 7th days.@*Results@#Levels of cytokines (IL-1β, TNF-α and IL-6) were significantly lower in musk treated group compared to brain ischemia group (p<0.05). In contrast, treatment with musk was significantly improved neurological function with stimulation of M2 phenotype microglia cells and increased the anti-inflammatory cytokine level of IL-10 in the ischemic hemisphere of brain in rats@*Conclusion@#The mechanisms of musk are associated with increasing the brain tissue levels of IL-10, and reducing the levels of proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6 subsequently stimulating neurogenesis and reduced ischemic zone. Musk may have neuroprotective effects against cerebral ischemia with stimulating M2 phenotype microglia cells in the brain. Regarding the ELISA, the effects of musk may be due to anti-inflammatory properties through inhibition of some of proinflammatory cytokines and stimulation of anti- inflammatory cytokines.