title: Erythropoietin reduces apoptosis of brain tissue cells in rats after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury: a characteristic analysis using magnetic resonance imaging.
abstract: Somein vitroexperiments have shown that erythropoietin (EPO) increases resistance to apoptosis and facilitates neuronal survival following cerebral ischemia. However, results fromin vivostudies are rarely reported. Perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) have been applied successfully to distinguish acute cerebral ischemic necrosis and penumbra in living animals; therefore, we hypothesized that PWI and DWI could be used to provide imaging evidencein vivofor the conclusion that EPO could reduce apoptosis in brain areas injured by cerebral ischemia/reperfusion. To validate this hypothesis, we established a rat model of focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury, and treated with intra-cerebroventricular injection of EPO (5,000 U/kg) 20 minutes before injury. Brain tissue in the ischemic injury zone was sampled using MRI-guided localization. The relative area of abnormal tissue, changes in PWI and DWI in the ischemic injury zone, and the number of apoptotic cells based on TdT-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end-labeling (TUNEL) were assessed. Our findings demonstrate that EPO reduces the relative area of abnormally high signal in PWI and DWI, increases cerebral blood volume, and decreases the number of apoptotic cells positive for TUNEL in the area injured by cerebral ischemia/reperfusion. The experiment provides imaging evidencein vivofor EPO treating cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Wuxi Second People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Chun-Juan
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Wuxi Second People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Zhong-Juan
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Wuxi Second People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Jun
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Wuxi Second People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Zhui-Yang
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Wuxi Second People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Jing-Jing
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Wuxi Second People's Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Yong
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2693-121X
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Ma
keywords: apoptosis; apparent diffusion coefficient; cerebral blood volume; cerebral ischemia/reperfusion; diffusion-weighted imaging; erythropoietin; magnetic resonance imaging; mean transit time; nerve protection; nerve regeneration; neural regeneration; perfusion-weighted imaging