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Objective To investigate the protective effect of ginkgolide A and ginkgolide B (GKAB) mixture on neurons of rats with permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (pMCAO) and related molecular mechanisms. Methods Sixty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham group, pMCAO permanent focal cerebral ischemia group and GKAB-treated low-, medium- and high-dose groups. In addition to the sham group (only isolated without interruption of the arteries), the rats in the remaining four groups were induced pMCAO by blocking the right middle cerebral artery. Rats in the GKAB-treated low-, medium- and high-dose groups were injected with GKAB 12.5, 25, and 50 mg/kg through sublingual vein at 10 min after pMCAO, while the sham and pMCAO groups were injected with saline of the same volume as the medium-dose group. After 12 h of treatment, the neuronal apoptosis was determined by TUNEL method, the level of phosphorylated c-Jun N-terminal kinase (p-JNK) was determined by immunohistochemistry, the expressions of p-JNK, Bcl-2, Bax, cytochrome C (Cyt C), caspase-9, caspase-3, cleaved caspase-9, and cleaved caspase-3 in brain tissues were detected by Western blotting. Results Compared with the sham group, the apoptosis rate and p-JNK expression of neurons in the pMCAO group were significantly increased (P<0.01), and the expressions of apoptosis-related proteins Bax, cleaved caspase-9 and cleaved caspase-3 in brain tissues were significantly increased (P<0.01), while the expressions of Bcl-2, caspase-9 and caspase-3 in brain tissues were significantly decreased (P<0.01). Compared with the pMCAO group, the apoptosis rate and p-JNK expression of neurons in GKAB-treated low-, medium- and high-dose groups were significantly decreased (P<0.01), the expressions of Bax, cleaved caspase-9 and cleaved caspase-3 protein were significantly decreased (P<0.01), and the expressions of Bcl-2, caspase-9 and caspase-3 were significantly increased (P<0.01) in a dose-dependent manner. Compared with the sham group, the expression of Cyt C in cytoplasm in the pMCAO group was significantly increased, and the expression of mitochondrial Cyt C was significantly decreased (P<0.01). Compared with the pMCAO group, the expressions of Cyt C in cytoplasm in the GKAB-treated low-, medium- and high-dose groups were significantly decreased in a dose-dependent manner, and the expressions of mitochondrial Cyt C were significantly increased (P<0.05, P<0.01). Conclusion GKAB can inhibit neuronal apoptosis after pMCAO in rats, and its mechanism may be related to the inhibition of JNK phosphorylation and JNK signaling pathway and the block of mitochondrial apoptosis pathway.
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Objective To observe the effects of Yiqi Huoxue Tongluo Jiedu fang (YHTJF) on pneumocyte apoptosis after lung ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury (LIRI) in mice and to investigate whether c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase (JNK) is involved in the mechanism of apoptosis.Methods Seventy C57BL/6J male mice were randomly divided into seven groups:normal control group (C group),carboxyl methyl cellulose-Na+normal control group (CMC-Na+C group),CMC-Na+sham group (CMC-Na+S group),CMC-Na+I/R group (CMC-Na+I/R group) and CMC-Na+YHTJF-low,-middle,-high dose groups (CMC-Na+YL,CMC-Na+YM,CMC-Na+YH groups).C group did not undergo any processing;in CMC-Na+S group,only was chest opened without clipping the lung hilum;in the rest of the four groups,they all underwent opening of the chest and clipping the lung hilum for 30 minutes,then the clipping of artery was relieved and left lung reperfusion was carried out for 3 hours.After operation,the mice were sacrificed,the lung tissues were harvested.Under light and electron microscopes,the lung morphological and ultra-structural changes were observed,and the changes of index of quantitative evaluation for alveolar damage (IQA) were determined.The terminal-deoxynucleoitidyl transferase mediated nick end labeling (TUNEL) was applied to evaluate the apoptosis index (AI) of the lung tissues.The protein and mRNA expressions of JNK and glucose regulating protein 78 (GRP78) in lung tissues were detected by Western Blot and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR);the correlations between lung AI and the expressions of mRNA and protein of JNK and GRP78,IQA were analyzed.Results Compared with CMC-Na+S group,IQA,AI and mRNA and the protein expressions of JNK and GRP78 in CMC-Na+I/R group were obviously higher [IQA:(74.00 ± 7.31)％ vs.(7.00 ± 1.23)％,AI:(64.40 ± 11.97)％ vs.(5.60 ± 1.14)％,JNK mRNA (gray value):1.143 ± 0.284 vs.0.152 ± 0.128,GRP78 mRNA (gray value):0.897 ± 0.129 vs.0.284 ± 0.044,JNK protein (A value):0.428 ± 0.074 vs.0.073 ± 0.052,GRP78 protein (A value):1.075 ± 0.145 vs.0.589 ± 0.060].Compared with CMC-Na+I/R group,the IQA,AI,protein and mRNA expressions of JNK and GRP78 in CMC-Na+YL,CMC-Na+YM,CMC-Na+YH groups were all lower,and the degree of reduction in group CMC-Na+YM was the most remarkable,greater than that in CMC-Na+YL or CMC-Na+YH group [IQA:(26.20 ± 3.35)％ vs.(34.00±5.34)％,(41.20±9.18)％,AI:(29.40±3.05)％ vs.(48.20±3.83)％,(39.20±6.14)％,JNK mRNA (gray value):0.681 ± 0.130 vs.0.804 ± 0.153,0.938 ± 0.11,GRP78 mRNA (gray value):0.450 ± 0.105 vs.0.747 ± 0.231,0.566 ± 0.115,JNK protein (A value):0.188 ± 0.049 vs.0.261 ± 0.065,0.209 ± 0.063,all P ＜ 0.01],compared with the CMC-Na+I/R group,the expression of GRP78 protein was obviously higher in CMC-Na+YH,CMC-Na+YL,CMC-Na+YM groups and the most remarkably high was in CMC-Na+YH group (A value:1.429 ±0.226 vs.1.130±0.169,1.128 ±0.177,all P ＜ 0.01).The apoptosis of each group was mainly in the pulmonary vascular endothelial cells and alveolar epithelial cells,and brown particles were positive cells under light microscope.Under transmission electron microscope:nuclear pyknosis and margination under the nuclear membrane,cytoplasm condensed,lamellar bodies decreased and emptying increased,cell membrane microvilli decreased or disappeared,mitochondria swelling,inflammatory cells increased in alveolar septum and adhering onto the capillary walls could be seen in CMC-Na+I/R group.Compared with CMC-Na+I/R group,the lung tissue ultrastructural damage alleviated,ultrastructure of alveoli clearly seen,nuclear chromatin relatively uniform,cytoplasm increased,type Ⅱ alveolar epithelial cell surface microvilli relatively plenty,lamellar corpuscle number increased,mitochondria swelling ameliorated in CMC-Na+YH,CMC-Na+YL,CMC-Na+YM groups and the most remarkable one was CMC-Na+YM group.AI was significantly positive correlated with the mRNA and protein expressions of JNK,GRP78 and IQA (r =0.907,0.928,0.880,0.712,0.911,all P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions YHTJF may effectively alleviate the cell apoptosis in mice LIRI,and its mechanism may be related to the inhibition of JNK pathway.
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Aim To investigate the expression of phosphorylated JNK1/JNK2 and the protection of 11,12-EET in ischemic and reperfusion rat heart.Method The expression of JNK1/JNK2 was detected with western blot method and the changing of heart function during ischemia/reperfusion process was observed in different groups. Results The cardiac function (+dp/dt_(max)%,-dp/dt_(max)% and LVDP)of reperfusion periods(30 min) apparently decreased in ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) group contrasted with Sham group, short ischemia(SI)+I/R group and EET+I/R group,and the expression of phosphorylated JNK1/JNK2 increased in I/R group contrasted with nromal group,Sham group and EET+I/R group.Conclusion The myocardial protection of 11,12-EET ( 6.24?10~(-8) mol?L~(-1)) is able to inhibit the expression of phosphorylated JNK1/JNK2.