Neuroprotection and mechanism of jiannao yizhi tang in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion

Aim: To investigate the neuroprotective mechanism of jiannoa yizhi tang in treatment of repetitive cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. Methods: Totally 70 mice were randomly divided into seven groups of 10 mice each: bland control group, sham operative groups of 1 and 10 days, model groups of 1 and 10 days, herb groups of 1 and 10 days(jiannao yizhi tang). The mice in the herb groups were gastroperfused with jiannao yizhi tang, while those in the other group with distilled water, both followed by cerebral ischemia-reperfusion 5 days later. One and ten days after operation, the brains were taken out following rapid decapitation to measure the activity of superoxide dismutase(SOD) and the contents of malondialdehyde(MDA), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)and interleukin-1β(IL-1β). Results: The activities of SOD were significantly reduced to(13.95 ± 4.52) mg/g and(15.82 ± 4.39) mg/g respectively at 1 and 10 days after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion, as compared with the control group [(26.82 ± 3.58) mg/g]; While the contents of MDA, TNF-α and IL-1β were significantly increased. In comparison with the model group, jiannao yizhi tang was effective to increase the activity of SOD[(21.35 ± 4.07) mg/g, F = 16.56, q = 3.29, P < 0.05] and decrease the contents of MDA (F = 81.88, q = 34.61, P < 0.01). Jiannao yizhi tang had a down-regulative role in the contents of TNF-α and IL-1β(F = 96.44, q = 35.11, P < 0.01; F = 38.30, q = 40.92, P < 0.01). Conclusion: Jiannao yizhi tang plays a neuroprotective rele in the repetitive ischemia-reperfusion injury through reducing oxidation and down-regulating the expression of TNF-α and IL-1βin the bran.