title: Protective effects of carnosine on white matter damage induced by chronic cerebral hypoperfusion.
abstract: Carnosine is a dipeptide that scavenges free radicals, inhibits inflammation in the central nervous system, and protects against ischemic and hypoxic brain damage through its anti-oxidative and anti-apoptotic actions. Therefore, we hypothesized that carnosine would also protect against white matter damage caused by subcortical ischemic injury. White matter damage was induced by right unilateral common carotid artery occlusion in mice. The animals were treated with 200, 500 or 750 mg/kg carnosine by intraperitoneal injection 30 minutes before injury and every other day after injury. Then, 37 days later, Klüver-Barrera staining, toluidine blue staining and immunofluorescence staining were performed. Carnosine (200, 500 mg/kg) substantially reduced damage to the white matter in the corpus callosum, internal capsule and optic tract, and it rescued expression of myelin basic protein, and alleviated the loss of oligodendrocytes. However, carnosine at the higher dose of 750 mg/kg did not have the same effects as the 200 and 500 mg/kg doses. These findings show that carnosine, at a particular dose range, protects against white matter damage caused by chronic cerebral ischemia in mice, likely by reducing oligodendroglial cell loss.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Shu-Hong
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Bo
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Tong
authors.initials: XT
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: A-Jing
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4596-5362
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2119-5172
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
keywords: carnosine; corpus callosum; internal capsule; nerve regeneration; neural regeneration; neuron; oligodendrocyte; optic tract; subcortical ischemic vascular dementia; white matter damage