Down-regulation of Rho-kinases induce tolerance in Ischemic preconditioning model after transient cerebral ischemia/reperfusion in rats

Hiba A. Awooda

Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine and Heath Sciences, Alneelain University, Khartoum, Sudan;.

DOI: 10.4236/health.2013.57A5002                

Abstract

Background: Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) is a brief episode of ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) that protects the brain from the damage induced by subsequent prolonged ischemia. Aim: To study the neuroprotective mechanism of IPC. Methods: 30 adult male Wistar rats (150-250 g) were divided into three groups 10 rats in each; the first group was sham-operated and served as a control, I/R group of rats subjected to 30 minutes of left common carotid artery occlusion (CCAO) followed by 24-hour of reperfusion, IPC group were treated with three episodes of 5-minutes of CCAO with 10 minutes of reperfusion in between, followed by 30 minutes of CCAO and then allowed for reperfusion for 24 hours. Neurobehavioral assessments were evaluated; Rhokinases (ROCK) and nitrite were measured in affected cerebral hemisphere. Results: Rats’ neurological deficits were significantly decreased in the I/R compared with the control group (P < 0.001) whereas rats treated by precondition stimuli showed significant improvement in neurological deficit compared to I/R group (P < 0.001). Nitrite level was significantly increased in the IPC rats compared to both control and I/R groups (P < 0.001). In contrast, the ROCK level was significantly higher in I/R group compared to control group and its level significantly decreased in IPC rats when compared to I/R group (P < 0.001). ROCK correlates negatively with the nitrite (CC = -0.695, P = 0.000). Conclusions: Downregulation of ROCK level following preconditioning stimuli with the potential involvement of Nitric oxide (NO) appear to be one of the neuroprotective mechanisms of IPC protection against a subsequent I/R challenge evidence by improvement in the neurological deficits.

Keywords

Cerebral; Ischemic Preconditioning; ROCK; NO

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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