Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Cerebral ischemic preconditioning (IPC) can increase basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) expression, which may induce brain ischemic tolerance. Injection of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) into cerebral ischemia/reperfusion region can play neuroprotective effect.
OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of focal ischemic preconditioning on VEGF and bFGF expression in rat with cerebral ischemia reperfusion.
METHODS: Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 groups. Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and ischemic preconditioning model rats were established by thread ligation. The IPC group received IPC at 3 days and 2 hours of MCAO and rats were killed after 22 hours reperfusion; model group did not receive IPC; the control group received sham surgery two times. Nerve cell changes in the 3 groups were observed by haematoxylin-eosin staining. The expression of VEGF and bFGF protein was determined by avidin biotin-peroxidase complex method. Neurologic score and cerebral cortex changes and immunohistochemistry of VEGF and bFGF were compared in each group.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Compared with the model group, the neurological deficit scores of the IPC group were obviously smaller (P < 0.01), the ischemia area and degree were lessened, but the expression of VEGF and bFGF were evidently increased (P < 0.05). Focal cerebral ischemic preconditioning can induce ischemic neuroprotective effect and its mechanism may be related with the expression of VEGF and bFGF.