Effect of Tanhuo Formula on the expression of Caspase-3, GFAP, and angiogenesis in rats with cerebral ischemia / 国际中医中药杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To study the effect of Tanhuo Formula (THW) on the expression of Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP), Caspase-3 and angiogenesis.Methods:Rats were divided into sham group, model group, low-dose THW group, medium-dose THW group, high-dose THW group and Ginaton group according to random number table method. Except the sham group, rats in other groups were subjected to the middle cerebral artery occlusion via a suture method. After 2 hours,rats in the low, medium and high dose of THW groups were gavaged with 0.92, 1.84 and 3.68 g/kg of THW dry extract powder solution respectively, and the Ginaton group were gavaged with 60 mg/kg of Ginaton, once every 24 hours for 3 days. Rats in sham operation group and model group were given equal volume of normal saline by gavage. The limb symmetry score was used to evaluate limb dysfunctions. The immunofluorescence staining of GFAP and Caspase-3 were applied to assess astrocyte activation and neuronal apoptosis, respectively. The double-labeled immunofluorescence staining of platelet-endothelial cell adhesion molecule (CD31) and chondroitinsulphate peoteoglycan (NG2) were performed to detect angiogenesis.Results:Compared with the model group, rats in the high-dose of THW group showed increased limb symmetry score ( P<0.01 or P<0.05), increased number of Caspase-3 (cortex: 765.0±122.4 vs. 1 131.0±392.9; striatum: 895.9±389.8 vs. 1 401.9±453.1) ( P<0.01 or P<0.05) and CD31 +/NG2 + (cortex: 1 355.0±257.9 vs. 825.4±308.1; striatum: 1 290.9±400.9 vs. 675.2±259.7) ( P<0.01) positive cells in the periinfarct cortex and striatum, and attenuated the integrated optical density of GFAP in the perilesional cortex (4 210.00±1 226.38 vs. 7 935.78±2 001.98) ( P<0.01). Conclusions:THW could ameliorate the limb functional disorders, inhibit astroglia activation, down-regulate the expression of Caspase-3, and enhanced angiogenesis in MCAO rats.