ABSTRACT
This study was designed to detect the impact of Valerian Ligusticum Pill (VLP) on cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury in rats, and explore the mechanism of angiogenesis. Sixty SD male rats were randomly divided into five groups, including sham operation group, model group, VLP-low (30mg·kg-1) group, VLP-high (50mg·kg-1) group and nimodipine (10mg·kg-1) group. The ischemia reperfusion injury model was induced by occlusion of middle cerebral artery with suture embolus, reperfusion after 30 minutes' ischemia. When the rats were awake, the first neurological function scores was determined with modified neurological severity score (mNSS). The rats were given VLP (30mg·kg-1, 50mg·kg-1) and nimodipine (10mg·kg-1) through intragastric administration at 2 mL, once a day for a total of 7 days, while an equal amount of distilled water was used in the sham operation group and model control group. After 7 days, the rats were given second neurological function scores, and improvement of neurological function=[the first score]-[the second score]. The rats were sacrificed to investigate the infarction volume percentage with 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride method; do the qualitative and half quantitative analyses for protein vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) in the tissue of cortex infarction around by Western blot; detect the new blood vessels of cortex infarction around by ki67/lectin immunofluorescence double staining method. Results suggest that VLP could significantly improve the neurological function, reduce the percentage of infarct volume, increase the expression of VEGFR2 and number of new blood vessels in the cortex infarction around compared with model group. In conclusion, VLP may relive the acute cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury in rats by inducing angiogenesis.