title: Protecting against ischaemic stroke in rats by heat shock protein 20-mediated exercise.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Exercise preconditioning (EP(+) ) has been widely accepted as a being of safe and effective preventive measure for stroke. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether EP(+) improves outcomes of ischaemic stroke by promoting neuronal and glial expression of heat shock protein (HSP) 20.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (288 in number) were used to investigate the contribution of HSP20-containing neurons and HSP20-containing glial cells in the exercise-mediated neuroprotection in the stroke condition using middle cerebral artery occlusion.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Exercise preconditioning, in addition to increasing the numbers of both the HSP20-containg neurons (88 ± 8 vs. 43 ± 4; n = 8 each group; P < 0·05) and the HSP20-containg astrocytes (102 ± 10 vs. 56 ± 5; n = 8; P < 0·05) significantly attenuated stroke-induced brain infarct (140 ± 9 vs. 341 ± 20 mm(3) ; n = 8 per group; P < 0·01), neuronal apoptosis (20 ± 5 vs. 87 ± 7; n = 8 per group; n = 8; P < 0·01), glial apoptosis (29 ± 5 vs. 101 ± 4; n = 8; P < 0·01), and neurological deficits (6·6 ± 0·3 vs. 11·7 ± 0·8; n = 8 per group; P < 0·01). Reducing the numbers of both HSP20-containing neurons and HSP20-contaiing glia by intracerebral injection of pSUPER small interfering RNAί expressing HSP20 significantly reversed the beneficial effects of EP(+) in attenuating stroke-induced cerebral infarct, neuronal and glial apoptosis, and neurological deficits.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The numbers of both the HSP20-containing neurons and the HSP20-containing glia inversely correlated with the outcomes of ischaemic stroke. In addition, preischaemic treadmill exercise improves outcomes of ischaemic stroke by increasing the numbers of both the HSP20-containing neurons and the HSP20-containing glia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei Medical University, New Taipei City, Taiwan.|Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chien-Min
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei Medical University, New Taipei City, Taiwan.|Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Cheng-Kuei
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ching-Ping
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Chih
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Research, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Mao-Tsun
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei Medical University, New Taipei City, Taiwan.|Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jia-Wei
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D020520:Brain Infarction / Q000503:physiopathology; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000378:metabolism; D050886:HSP20 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D008026:Ligation; D008297:Male; D020768:Middle Cerebral Artery; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: D050886:HSP20 Heat-Shock Proteins
keywords: Exercise; heat shock protein 20; neuroprotection; stroke