title: Ghrelin protects cortical neuron against focal ischemia/reperfusion in rats.
abstract: Ghrelin is a novel brain-gut peptide and the endogenous ligand of growth hormone secretagogue receptor 1a (GHSR-1a). Evidences have been shown that ghrelin inhibited cell apoptosis in cardiocytes, endotheliocytes, osteoblasts, and so on. Recently, it was reported that ghrelin inhibited neuronal apoptosis of hypothalamus and hippocampus. However, little is known about the effects of ghrelin on cortical neurons during focal ischemia/reperfusion injury. In the present study, we showed that ghrelin (i.v.) prevented cortical neurons from injury induced by ischemia/reperfusion in vivo and by LPS, glutamate, NMDA and H(2)O(2) in vitro. We found that the expression of ghrelin's receptor (GHSR-1a) in rat cerebral cortex were obviously decreased by ischemia/reperfusion injury and increased by ghrelin (i.v.). Ghrelin up-regulated the expression of Bcl-2/Bax and HSP70, and inhibited caspase8, 9, 3 through GHSR-1a, which was contributed to the neuroprotective mechanism of ghrelin. Ghrelin might be an important regulator in therapeutic strategy of cortex injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Peking University Health Science Center, 38 Xueyuan Road, Haidian district, Beijing 100083, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yanying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Zhongchi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Shigong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D015415:Biomarkers; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D020169:Caspases / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D054439:Ghrelin; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D036361:Peptide Hormones; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D054440:Receptors, Ghrelin; D015427:Reperfusion Injury / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D046509:Tissue Culture Techniques
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D054439:Ghrelin; D036361:Peptide Hormones; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; D054440:Receptors, Ghrelin; D020169:Caspases