Effects and Mechanisms of Danhong Injection on Cerebral Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury in Rats with Hyperlipemia / 中国药学杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects and mechanisms of danhong injection on cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury in rats with hyperlipidemia. METHODS: Hyperlipidemia model was established by feeding SD rats with high-fat diet for 6 weeks. Then hyperlipidemia rats were randomly divided into sham operation group, model group and danhong injection low (0.5 mL•kg-1), medium (1.0 mL•kg-1) and high (2.0 mL•kg-1) dose groups with six rats for each group. Danhong injection groups were injected for 7 consecutive days before the establishment of the model of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), and the corresponding dose was given once at 1 h before modeling and 6 h after reperfusion. After 24 h of reperfusion, rats were evaluated in terms of neurological function. The changes of histopathology were observed in the cerebral cortex of ischemic rats by HE staining; RT-PCR was used to detect the mRNA expressions of Nox2, Rac1, ASC, NLRP3, caspase-1, IL-1β and IL-18 in cerebral ischemia area. In addition, the content of triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) in serum were detected by the kits. The expression of NLRP3 protein was evaluated by immunohistochemical. RESULTS: Compared with MCAO group, Danhong injection groups improved the reperfusion injury of cerebral ischemia in varying degrees, significantly reduced the mRNA expression of Nox2, Rac1, ASC, NLRP3, caspase-1, IL-1β and IL-18, increased the neurological score of MCAO rats, and reduced the contents of TC and TG besides the expression of NLRP3 protein. CONCLUSION: Danhong injection could effectively regulate blood lipid level and play a obvious protective effect on the reperfusion injury in MCAO rats with hyperlipidemia. The mechanism might be related to the inhibition of the formation of NLRP3 inflammatory body and the decrease of the inflammation-related factors expression of caspase-1, IL-1β and IL-18.