title: Triptolide attenuates cerebral ischemia and reperfusion injury in rats through the inhibition the nuclear factor kappa B signaling pathway.
abstract: Inflammation plays critical roles in the acute progression of the pathology of ischemic injury. Previous studies have shown that triptolide interferes with a number of pro-inflammatory mechanisms. In this study, we investigated whether triptolide has protective effects during acute cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Male Sprague Dawley rats received triptolide or vehicle at the onset of reperfusion following middle cerebral artery occlusion. Twenty-four hours after reperfusion, we evaluated neurological injuries, the expression of pro-inflammatory markers, and NF-κB activation. I/R rats treated with triptolide showed significantly better neurological deficit scores, decreased neural apoptosis, and reduced cerebral infarct volume and brain edema, and triptolide treatment suppressed the activation of NF-κB following I/R injury. Furthermore, the expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines at both the mRNA and protein levels were significantly decreased in rats receiving triptolide. These results indicate that the neuroprotective effects of triptolide during acute cerebral I/R injury are possibly related to the inhibition of both the NF-κB signaling pathway and inflammation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China ; Emergency Center, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Qing
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jun-Jian
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Emergency Center, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Emergency Center, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xian-Long
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Zhou
keywords: NF-κB pathway; inflammation; ischemic stroke; rat model