Effects of pretreatment with methanol extract of Peucedani Radix on transient ischemic brain injury in mice

BACKGROUND

Stroke is the second most common cause of death and may result in various disabilities; thus, identification of neuroprotective therapeutic agents is important. Peucedani Radix (PR), the root of Angelica decursiva, is a well-known remedy for damp and phlegm in Korean medicine and has also been shown to exert antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. This study was performed to investigate the mechanism underlying the anti-inflammatory effect of methanol extract of PR (PRex) on cerebral ischemic injury.

METHODS

C57BL/6 male mice were orally administered PRex (20, 60, or 200 mg/kg) at 2 days, 1 day, and 1 h prior to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Twenty-four hours after MCAO, the infarct volume was measured and the neurological deficit score was assessed. The inflammatory-related substances in the ipsilateral hemisphere were determined by western blotting, DCFH-DA assay, TBARS assay, and ELISA.

RESULTS

PRex pretreatment significantly decreased the infarct volume at 24 h after MCAO. Moreover, PRex effectively suppressed the expression of iNOS, ROS, MDA, and pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1β and TNF-α, in brain tissue of mice with MCAO-induced brain injury.

CONCLUSIONS

PRex protected neurons from ischemic brain injury in mice through its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Our results suggested that PR could be a promising candidate in the therapy of ischemia-induced brain damage.

The effect of ultrasound for increasing neural differentiation in hBM-MSCs and inducing neurogenesis in ischemic stroke model

AIMS

This study's purpose was to evaluate the effect of ultrasound in air at a frequency of 0.04MHz and an intensity of 50mW/cm² on neural differentiation of hBM-MSCs in vitro and on neurogenesis in an ischemic stroke model.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

hBM-MSCs were exposed to 0.04MHz ultrasound and then compared with no exposed one in cell morphology, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, RT-PCR, and Western blot. In addition, we made stroke model mice by means of the photothrombosis (PT) method and these models were exposed to 0.04MHz ultrasound after hBM-MSCs injection. We compared with sham group in histological and immunohistochemical analysis and western blot.

KEY FINDINGS

Ultrasound induced neural differentiation without cell death. In stroke models, inflammatory cells were observed around the infarct area in the Cell, Cell/Ultrasound group and the brain infarct volume in the Cell/Ultrasound group was smaller than in the sham group. Further, the expression of neural proteins in the Cell/Ultrasound group was increased relative to the sham group.

SIGNIFICANCE

The present study showed that ultrasound promotes neural differentiation of hBM-MSC and neurogenesis in a mouse stroke model. This may be applicable as a therapeutic device with the aim of inducing neurogenesis following stroke.