scholarly journals Prolonged Fasting Improves Endothelial Progenitor Cell-Mediated Ischemic Angiogenesis in Mice

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 693-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bao Xin ◽  
Chun-Long Liu ◽  
Hong Yang ◽  
Cheng Peng ◽  
Xiao-Hui Dong ◽  
...  

Background/Aims: Prolonged fasting (PF) was shown to be of great potency to promote optimal health and reduce the risk of many chronic diseases. This study sought to determine the effect of PF on the endothelial progenitor cell (EPC)-mediated angiogenesis in the ischemic brain and cerebral ischemic injury in mice. Methods: Mice were subjected to PF or periodic PF after cerebral ischemia, and histological analysis and behavioral tests were performed. Mouse EPCs were isolated and examined, and the effects of EPC transplantation on cerebral ischemic injury were investigated in mice. Results: It was found that PF significantly increased the EPC functions and angiogenesis in the ischemic brain, and attenuated the cerebral ischemic injury in mice that was previously subjected to cerebral ischemia. Periodic PF might reduce cortical atrophy and improve long-term neurobehavioral outcomes after cerebral ischemia in mice. The eNOS and MnSOD expression and intracellular NO level were increased, and TSP-2 expression and intracellular O2- level were reduced in EPCs from PF-treated mice compared to control. In addition, transplanted EPCs might home into ischemic brain, and the EPCs from PF-treated mice had a stronger ability to promote angiogenesis in ischemic brain and reduce cerebral ischemic injury compared to the EPCs from control mice. The EPC-conditioned media from PF-treated mice exerted a stronger effect on cerebral ischemic injury reduction compared to that from control mice. Conclusion: Prolonged fasting promoted EPC-mediated ischemic angiogenesis and improved long-term stroke outcomes in mice. It is implied that prolonged fasting might potentially be an option to treat ischemic vascular diseases.

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng Peng ◽  
Li-Ping Wang ◽  
Xia Tao ◽  
Xiao-Hui Dong ◽  
Chun-Fang Xu ◽  
...  

Background/Aims: Chronic cold exposure may increase energy expenditure and contribute to counteracting obesity, an important risk factor for cerebrocardiovascular diseases. This study sought to evaluate whether preventive cold acclimation before ischemia onset might be a promising option for preventing cerebral ischemic injury. Methods: After a 14-day cold acclimation period, young and aged mice were subjected to permanent cerebral ischemia, and histological analyses and behavioral tests were performed. Mouse endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) were isolated, their function and number were determined, and the effects of EPC transplantation on cerebral ischemic injury were investigated. Results: Preventive cold acclimation before ischemia onset increased EPC function, promoted ischemic brain angiogenesis, protected against cerebral ischemic injury, and improved long-term stroke outcomes in young mice. In addition, transplanted EPCs from cold-exposed mice had a greater ability to reduce cerebral ischemic injury and promote local angiogenesis compared to those from control mice, and EPCs from donor animals could integrate into the recipient ischemic murine brain. Furthermore, transplanted EPCs might exert paracrine effects on cerebral ischemic injury, which could be improved by preventive cold acclimation. Moreover, preventive cold acclimation could also enhance EPC function, promote local angiogenesis, and protect against cerebral ischemic injury in aged mice. Conclusions: Preventive cold acclimation before ischemia onset improved long-term stroke outcomes in mice at least in part via promoting the reparative function of EPC. Our findings imply that a variable indoor environment with frequent cold exposure might benefit individuals at high risk for stroke.


2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 493-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haichao Wang ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Shu Zhu ◽  
Jianhua Li ◽  
Jason D'Amore ◽  
...  

Cerebral ischemia-elicited inflammatory responses are driven by inflammatory mediators produced both by central (e.g., neurons and microglia) and infiltrating peripheral immune cells (e.g., macrophage/monocyte), and contribute to the evolution of tissue injury. A ubiquitous molecule, spermine, is released from injured cells, and counter-regulates release of various proinflammatory cytokines. However, the spermine-mediated anti-inflammatory activities are dependent on the availability of fetuin-A, a liver-derived negative acute-phase protein. Using an animal model of focal cerebral ischemia (i.e., permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion, MCAo), we found that levels of fetuin-A in the ischemic brain tissue were elevated in a time-dependent manner, starting between 2 and 6 h, peaking around 24 to 48 h, and returning to baseline 72 h after MCAo. When administered peripherally, exogenous fetuin-A gained entry across the BBB into the ischemic brain tissue, and dose dependently reduced brain infarct volume at 24 h after MCAo. Meanwhile, fetuin-A effectively attenuated (i) ischemia-induced HMGB1 depletion from the ischemic core; (ii) activation of centrally (e.g., microglia) and peripherally derived immune cells (e.g., macrophage/monocytes); and (iii) TNF production in ischemic brain tissue. Taken together, these experimental data suggest that fetuin-A protects against early cerebral ischemic injury partly by attenuating the brain inflammatory response.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zun-Jing Liu ◽  
Wei Liu ◽  
Lei Liu ◽  
Cheng Xiao ◽  
Yu Wang ◽  
...  

Cerebral ischemia is the most common cerebrovascular disease worldwide. Recent studies have demonstrated that curcumin had beneficial effect to attenuate cerebral ischemic injury. However, it is unclear how curcumin protects against cerebral ischemic injury. In the present study, using rat middle cerebral artery occlusion model, we found that curcumin was a potent PPARγagonist in that it upregulated PPARγexpression and PPARγ-PPRE binding activity. Administration of curcumin markedly decreased the infarct volume, improved neurological deficits, and reduced neuronal damage of rats. In addition, curcumin suppressed neuroinflammatory response by decreasing inflammatory mediators, such as IL-1β, TNF-α, PGE2, NO, COX-2, and iNOS induced by cerebral ischemia of rats. Furthermore, curcumin suppressed IκB degradation that was caused by cerebral ischemia. The present data also showed that PPARγinteracted with NF-κB-p65 and thus inhibited NF-κB activation. All the above protective effects of curcumin on cerebral ischemic injury were markedly attenuated by GW9662, an inhibitor of PPARγ. Our results as described above suggested that PPARγinduced by curcumin may play a critical role in protecting against brain injury through suppression of inflammatory response. It also highlights the potential of curcumin as a therapeutic agent against cerebral ischemia.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lixia Zhang ◽  
Yulong Ma ◽  
Min Liu ◽  
Miao Sun ◽  
Jin Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Growing evidence indicates that estrogen plays a pivotal role in neuroprotection against cerebral ischemia, but the molecular mechanism of this protection is still elusive. N-myc downstream‐regulated gene 2 (Ndrg2), an estrogen-targeted gene, has been shown to exert neuroprotective effects against cerebral ischemia in male mice. However, the role of Ndrg2 in the neuroprotective effect of estrogen remains unknown. In this study, we first detected NDRG2 expression levels in the cortex and striatum in both female and male mice with western blot analyses. We then detected cerebral ischemic injury by constructing middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion (MCAO-R) models in Ndrg2 knockout or conditional knockdown female mice. We further implemented estrogen, ERα or ERβ agonist replacement in the ovariectomized (OVX) Ndrg2 knockouts or conditional knockdowns female mice, then tested for NDRG2 expression, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) expression, and extent of cerebral ischemic injury. We found that NDRG2 expression was significantly higher in female than in male mice in both the cortex and striatum. Ndrg2 knockouts and conditional knockdowns showed significantly aggravated cerebral ischemic injury in female mice. Estrogen and ERβ replacement treatment (DPN) led to NDRG2 upregulation in both the cortex and striatum of OVX mice. Estrogen and DPN also led to GFAP upregulation in OVX mice. However, the effect of estrogen and DPN in activating astrocytes was lost in Ndrg2 knockouts OVX mice and primary cultured astrocytes, but partially retained in conditional knockdowns OVX mice. Most importantly, we found that the neuroprotective effects of E2 and DPN against cerebral ischemic injury were lost in Ndrg2 knockouts OVX mice but partially retained in conditional knockdowns OVX mice. These findings demonstrate that estrogen alleviated cerebral ischemic injury via ERβ upregulation of Ndrg2, which could activate astrocytes, indicating that Ndrg2 is a critical mediator of E2-induced neuroprotection against cerebral ischemic injury.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Hongwei Lu ◽  
Yaqin Meng ◽  
Xinrui Han ◽  
Wei Zhang

Stroke is the leading cause of death and disability in humans. Strokes are classified as either ischemic or hemorrhagic. Ischemic stroke accounts for 70–80% of the cases. Inflammation is a key factor in ischemic brain injury. Studies have shown that inflammatory response induced by NLRP3 inflammasome is one of the root causes of brain damage in mice with cerebral ischemia. However, its specific mechanism in cerebral ischemia is still unclear. ADAM8 (a disintegrin and metalloproteases 8) is a transmembrane protein with different functions. It plays an important role in tumors and neuroinflammation-related diseases. However, the role and molecular mechanism of ADAM8 in cerebral ischemia injury are still unclear. This study aims to evaluate the role of ADAM8 in cerebral ischemic injury and explore its signal transduction mechanism. This experiment shows that ADAM8 can significantly cause neurological deficits in MCAO mice and can substantially cause ipsilateral cerebral edema and cerebral infarction in MCAO mice. In addition, ADAM8 can significantly induce cortical cell apoptosis in MCAO mice, leading to the loss of neurons and the expression of proinflammatory factors COX2, iNOS, TNFα, and IL-6. Importantly, we confirmed that ADAM8 mediates the inflammatory response by promoting the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome, microglia, and astrocytes. These results indicate that ADAM8 may be a candidate drug target for the prevention and treatment of the cerebral ischemic injury.


Stroke ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peiying Li ◽  
Long Wang ◽  
Yuxi Zhou ◽  
Xing Wang ◽  
Weifeng Yu

Background and purpose: T cell activation, which is detrimental to the ischemic brain, requires metabolic reprogramming to meet the increased fuel demanding. ACC1 is an enzyme catalyzing the carboxylation of acetyl-CoA to malonyl CoA, a key substrate in the glycolytic-lipogenic pathway, which is extremely critical for T cell differentiation and phenotype polarization. We tested the hypothesis that pharmacologically inhibiting the enzyme ACC1 early after stroke may restrain T cell activation and protect against cerebral ischemic injury. Methods: Cerebral ischemia was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) for 60 minutes in C57/B6 mice. Soraphen A, the specific pharmacological inhibitor of ACC1 was administered at 1 hour after reperfusion at the dose of 1mg/kg, 5mg/kg, 10mg/kg and 50mg/kg intraperitoneally. Infarct volume was assess at 3 days after surgery by staining with 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride. Behavior assessments, such as body proprioception, climbing, forelimb walking, lateral turning, foot fault and adhesive removal were examined at 3, 5, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after stroke. T cell infiltration into the ischemic brain was examined by immunofluorescent staining. Results: Mice treated with 5mg/kg or 10mg/kg soraphen A exhibited significantly smaller infarct volume at 3 days after stroke. 5mg/kg was chosen as the dose for further experiments. Soraphen A treatment improved the overall neurological assessment and enhanced the performance of mice in adhesive removal test and grid walking test. Soraphen A treatment significantly attenuated the CD3+ T cell and Gr-1+ neutrophil infiltration in the ischemic mice brain at 3 days after surgery. Conclusion: Pharmacological inhibition of T cell activation by soraphen A is protective against cerebral ischemic injury and may represent a novel strategy for stroke therapy.


2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 581-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae-Chul Lee ◽  
Joon Ha Park ◽  
Ji Hyeon Ahn ◽  
In Hye Kim ◽  
Jeong Hwi Cho ◽  
...  

Antioxidants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1515
Author(s):  
Ming-Cheng Lin ◽  
Chien-Chi Liu ◽  
Yu-Chen Lin ◽  
Chin-Sheng Liao

Cerebral ischemia is related to increased oxidative stress. Resveratrol displays anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The transition elements iron (Fe) and copper (Cu) are indispensable for the brain but overload is deleterious to brain function. Aluminum (Al) and arsenic (As) are toxic metals that seriously threaten brain health. This study was conducted to elucidate the correlation of the neuroprotective mechanism of resveratrol to protect cerebral ischemic damage with modulation of the levels of lipid peroxidation, anti-oxidants, transition elements, and toxic metals. Experimentally, 20 mg/kg of resveratrol was given once daily for 10 days. The cerebral ischemic operation was performed via occlusion of the right common carotid artery together with the right middle cerebral artery for 60 min followed by homogenization of the brain cortex and collection of supernatants for biochemical analysis. In the ligation group, levels of malondialdehyde, Fe, Cu, Al, and As increased but those of the anti-oxidants superoxide dismutase and catalase decreased. Pretreating rats with resveratrol before ischemia significantly reversed these effects. Our findings highlight the association of overload of Fe, Cu, As, and Al with the pathophysiology of cerebral ischemia. In conclusion, resveratrol protects against cerebral ischemic injury via restraining lipid peroxidation, transition elements, and toxic metals, but increasing anti-oxidant activity.


2009 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 488-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongfeng Fan ◽  
Fanxia Shen ◽  
Tim Frenzel ◽  
Wei Zhu ◽  
Jianqin Ye ◽  
...  

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