Effect of Toll-like Receptor 4 on Cerebral Ischemia Reperfusion Injury in Rats / 中国医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the effect and mechanism of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) on cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. Methods Rats were divided into a sham group, MCAO group, and MCAO+TAK group. Cerebral cortices were removed on day 1, 3, 7, and 14 post surgery. Morphological staining and Western blotting were used to detect pathological changes and TLR4 and P-IKKα/β expression in brain tissues. Results The pathological changes in the MCAO+TAK group were more severe than in the MCAO group on day 1 post surgery. However, the MCAO group exhibited more severe damage at the other time points. TLR4 expression was lowest in the cerebral cortices of the sham group. On day 1 and 14 post surgery, TLR4 expression was lower in the MCAO group than in the MCAO+TAK group, while on day 3 and 7 post surgery, TLR4 expression was higher in the MCAO group than in the MCAO+TAK group. P-IKKα/β expression was highest in the cerebral cortices of the MCAO group at all time points except for day 1. Conclusion TLR4 may alleviate cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury in rats on day 1 post surgery; however, TLR4 may exacerbate ischemia repeifusion injury 3 to 14 days post surgery. The mechanism may be due to the effect of P-IKKα/β expression in the cerebral cortex.