title: Ischemic preconditioning protects against ischemic brain injury.
abstract: In this study, we hypothesized that an increase in integrin αvβ3 and its co-activator vascular endothelial growth factor play important neuroprotective roles in ischemic injury. We performed ischemic preconditioning with bilateral common carotid artery occlusion for 5 minutes in C57BL/6J mice. This was followed by ischemic injury with bilateral common carotid artery occlusion for 30 minutes. The time interval between ischemic preconditioning and lethal ischemia was 48 hours. Histopathological analysis showed that ischemic preconditioning substantially diminished damage to neurons in the hippocampus 7 days after ischemia. Evans Blue dye assay showed that ischemic preconditioning reduced damage to the blood-brain barrier 24 hours after ischemia. This demonstrates the neuroprotective effect of ischemic preconditioning. Western blot assay revealed a significant reduction in protein levels of integrin αvβ3, vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptor in mice given ischemic preconditioning compared with mice not given ischemic preconditioning 24 hours after ischemia. These findings suggest that the neuroprotective effect of ischemic preconditioning is associated with lower integrin αvβ3 and vascular endothelial growth factor levels in the brain following ischemia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Meng
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9864-1647
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Ying-Ying
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Li-Li
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Hong
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Chen
keywords: NSFC grant; brain injury; cerebral infarction; cerebral ischemia; fetal liver kinase 1; global cerebral ischemia; integrin αvβ3; ischemic preconditioning; ischemic tolerance; nerve regeneration; neural regeneration; vascular endothelial growth factor; vascular endothelial growth factor receptor; vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2