title: Protective effects of sodium beta-aescin on ischemia-reperfusion injury in rat brain.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the protective effects of sodium beta-aescin on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Rats were pretreated with sodium beta-aesein for 7 d and then subjected to cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury induced by a middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). The neurological outcome was evaluated by the Longa's method; The infarct volume was assessed by hemmatoxylin-Eosin staining and the cerebral water content was measured by dry weight method. The activities of SOD, GSH-Px, CAT, Na+ -K+ -ATPase and the MDA content were measured in the cortex and hippocampus of ischemic and non-ischemic hemisphere.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sodium beta-aescin significantly reduced the volume of cerebral infarct and water content, and ameliorated the neurological deficit (P < 0.05). In vehicle-treated rats, the activities of SOD, GSH-Px and Na+ -K+ -ATPase in the cortex and hippocampus of ischemic hemisphere were all decreased (P < 0.01) , while the CAT activity was slightly elevated and the MDA of content was significantly increased (P < 0.01) compared with the sham-operated group. After treated with sodium beta-aescin, the effects on recovery of SOD, GSH-Px, Na+ -K+ -ATPase activities were observed (P < 0.05), and the MDA content was reduced (P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results showed that pretreatment with sodium beta-aescin can attenuate brain injury and its antioxidant activity on rats which encountered cerebral ischemia-reperfusion.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
authors.forename: Xia-min
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Fan-dian
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Zeng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002374:Catalase / Q000378:metabolism; D004928:Escin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008315:Malondialdehyde / Q000378:metabolism; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015427:Reperfusion Injury / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000254:Sodium-Potassium-Exchanging ATPase / Q000378:metabolism; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D008315:Malondialdehyde; D004928:Escin; D002374:Catalase; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D000254:Sodium-Potassium-Exchanging ATPase