Protective effect of pioglitazone and the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 in focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury rats
FENG Jun-lin
LI Hao
WU Lan
LI Qing-hua
GUO Cui-rong
Abstract：Objective To investigate the effect of different dose of pioglitazone on the expression of cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2) in focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats and to study the protective effect and the mechanism of pioglitazone. Methods Eighty adult male SD rats were randomly divided into four groups: sham operated group, normal sodium pretreated group(NSP group), low-dose pioglitazone pretreated group(LDPP group,10 mg/kg) and high-dose pioglitazone pretreated group(HDPP group, 15 mg/kg). Animal models of 2 h middle cerebral artery occlusion followed by 22 h reperfusion (MCAO/R) were made by suture-occluded method. After MCAO/R, we evaluated the neurological score, measured the volume of cerebral infarction, investigated the expression of COX-2 with immunohistochemistry. Results Compared with NSP group, rats in pioglitazone pretreated group(LDPP group and HDPP group), especially in HDPP group, significantly presented lower neurological score and smaller cerebral infarction volume(P ＜ 0. 01). The expression of COX-2 of fronto-parietal lobe in NSP group were significantly increased while compared with sham operated group(P ＜ 0.05). Compared with NSP group, the expression of COX-2 in pioglitazone pretreated group, especially in HDPP group, was significantly decreased (all P＜0.05). Conclusions Pioglitazone has protective effect on focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats,especially in HDPP group. The protective mechanism of pioglitazone is probably related to the decreased expression of COX-2 and the improvement of inflammatory reaction in brain tissue.
Keywords：Ischemia-reperfusion injuryPioglitazoneCyclooxygenase-2Protective effect on brain
Publication Date：2011-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2026-09-14(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)