Study on the neuroprotective effects and action mechanisms of four Chinese herbal ;monomer on cerebral ischemia reperfusion mice / 国际中医中药杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To compare the therapeutical effect of puerarin, ligustrazine, ginsenoside Rb1, Hydroxysafflor yellow A on cerebral ischemia reperfusion mice. Methods The mice were randomly assigned for sham group, model group, puerarin group, ligustrazine group, ginsenoside Rb1 group, and Hydroxysafflor yellow A group, 24 mice for each group. All the groups were subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) by 1 h ischemia and 24 h of reperfusion except the sham group. The puerarin, ligustrazine, ginsenoside Rb1, Hydroxysafflor yellow A were administrated by tail vein injection with 3μmol/kg at the onset of 1 h of ischemia. The neurologic deficit score, infarct area calculated by TTC staining, cerebral cortex blood flow monitored by laser doppler flowmetry, NO content measured by chemical colorimetry and western blot were applied to determine the expression for cleaved-caspase-3 and nuclear transcription factor NF-κB for each group. Results Compared with the model group, the infarct area (15.83%± 1.83%, 22.00%± 2.53%, 22.83%± 1.83%, 17.83%± 1.72%vs. 34.67%± 2.66%) in the puerarin group, ligustrazine group, ginsenoside Rb1 group, Hydroxysafflor yellow A group was significantly decreased (P<0.01 or P<0.05);the cerebral cortex blood flow (598.81 ± 9.90 μl/kg?min-1, 614.78 ± 9.20 μl/kg?min-1, 577.83 ± 5.55 μl/kg?min-1, 583.54 ± 7.98 μl/kg?min-1 vs. 548.43 ± 1.97 μl/kg?min-1) significantly increased (P<0.01 or P<0.05);the NO content (17.09 ± 1.18μmol/L, 18.54 ± 0.54μmol/L, 18.17 ± 0.49μmol/L, 15.10 ± 0.73μmol/L vs. 20.63 ± 0.73μmol/L) ignificantly decreased (P<0.01 or P<0.05);the expression of cleaved-caspase-3 (1.02 ± 0.08, 1.12 ± 0.04, 0.87 ± 0.08, 1.07 ± 0.08 vs. 1.30 ± 0.06) and NF-κB p-p65/NF-κB p65 (1.03 ± 0.19, 1.15 ± 0.05, 1.12 ± 0.08, 0.72 ± 0.08 vs. 1.45 ± 0.08) ignificantly decreased (P<0.01 or P<0.05) Conclusions Four Chinese herbal monomers could improve nerve and cerebral dysfunctions and ameliorate ischemia symptoms with varying degrees. The mechanisms were involved with the enhancement of cerebral cortex blood flow and inhibition of cell apoptosis and the activation of inflammatory signaling pathways.