title: Baicalin attenuates focal cerebral ischemic reperfusion injury through inhibition of nuclear factor κB p65 activation.
abstract: Baicalin is a flavonoid compound purified from plant Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi. We aimed to evaluate the neuroprotective effects of baicalin against cerebral ischemic reperfusion injury. Male Wistar rats were subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) for 2 h followed by reperfusion for 24 h. Baicalin at doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg was intravenously injected after ischemia onset. Twenty-four hours after reperfusion, the neurological deficit was scored and infarct volume was measured. Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining was performed to analyze the histopathological changes of cortex and hippocampus neurons. We examined the levels of NF-κB p65 in ischemic cortexes by Western blot analysis and RT-PCR assay. The results showed that the neurological deficit scores were significantly decreased from 2.0 ± 0.7 to 1.2 ± 0.4 and the volume of infarction was reduced by 25% after baicalin injection. Histopathological examination showed that the increase of neurons with pycnotic shape and condensed nuclear in cortex and hippocampus were not observed in baicalin treated animals. Further examination showed that NF-κB p65 in cortex was increased after ischemia reperfusion injury, indicating the molecular mechanism of ischemia reperfusion injury. The level of NF-κB p65 was decreased by 73% after baicalin treatment. These results suggest that baicalin might be useful as a potential neuroprotective agent in stroke therapy. The neuroprotective effects of baicalin may relate to inhibition of NF-κB p65.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Xian-Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Xie-Huang
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: E-Nang
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Jian-hua
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bu
authors.forename: Zhao-Ping
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D015427:Reperfusion Injury / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D051996:Transcription Factor RelA / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: D005419:Flavonoids; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; C498145:Rela protein, rat; D051996:Transcription Factor RelA; C038044:baicalin