Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Studies have reported that astragalus injection can inhibit neuronal apoptosis in the hippocampus of rats after cerebral ischemia reperfusion.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of different doses of astragalus injection on neuronal apoptosis and expression of caspase-3 in hippocampus of rats after cerebral ischemia reperfusion.
METHODS: Eighty-four SD rats were randomly divided into three groups: the sham operation group, model group and astragalus injection group. The astragalus injection group was then subdivided into five subsets, according to the astragalus injection doses of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 mL/kg. The four-vessel occlusion method was used to build a rat model of cerebral ischemia reperfusion. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling staining was used to measure neuronal apoptosis in the hippocampus and Western blot was used to measure the expression of caspase-3 protein.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Compared with the sham operation group, the apoptosis index and expression of caspase-3 protein increased in the model group (P < 0.05). Compared with the model group, the apoptosis index and expression of caspase-3 protein decreased in the astragalus 4, 6, 8 and 10 mL/kg groups (P < 0.05), but there was no difference in the astragalus 2 mL/kg group (P > 0.05). Compared with the 4 mL/kg group, the apoptosis index and expression of caspase-3 protein decreased in the astragalus 6, 8 and 10 mL/kg groups (P < 0.05) in a dose-dependent manner, but there was no difference among the later three groups (P > 0.05). Astragalus injection can decrease neuronal apoptosis and expression of caspase-3 protein in rat hippocampus after cerebral ischemia reperfusion.