title: Fluoxetine and sertraline attenuate postischemic brain injury in mice.
abstract: This study aimed to investigate whether selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) attenuate brain injury and facilitate recovery following photothrombotic cortical ischemia in mice. Male ICR mice were anesthetized and systemically administered Rose Bengal. Permanent focal ischemia was induced in the medial frontal and somatosensory cortices by irradiating the skull with cold light laser. The animals were treated with fluoxetine or sertraline once a day for 14 d starting 1 h after ischemic insult. Treatment with fluoxetine and sertraline significantly reduced the infarct size. The Evans blue extravasation indices of the fluoxetine- and sertraline-treated groups were significantly lower than that of the vehicle group. Treatment with fluoxetine and sertraline shifted the lower limit of the mean arterial blood pressure for cerebral blood flow autoregulation toward normal, and significantly increased the expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) proteins in the ischemic region. These results suggest that SSRIs, such as fluoxetine and sertraline, facilitate recovery following photothrombotic cortical ischemia via enhancement of HO-1 and HIF-1alpha proteins expression, thereby providing a benefit in therapy of cerebral ischemia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Medical Research Center for Ischemic Tissue Regeneration, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Yangsan 626-770, Korea.
authors.forename: Tae Kyeong
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Mi Sun
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Ho Youn
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Moo Sang
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Si Geun
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Chi Dae
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Won Suk
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Lee