RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) is a potential factor for lethal injury, and currently lacks effective remedies. Bauhinia championii extracts (BCEs) have been reported to exhibit anti-oxidative and anti-hypoxia properties. The current work aimed to study whether BCE could alleviate neuronal injury caused by I/R. METHODS: To investigate the protective effects of BCE, oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/R) was applied to the HT22 cell line in vitro and to a cerebral I/R mouse model in vivo. RESULTS: Under OGD/R, the survival of HT22 cells was significantly prolonged after treatment with BCE. In vivo, BCE significantly reduced the infarct area and decreased neuronal apoptosis caused by I/R. It was further found that OGD/R could trigger endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and induce ER stress-mediated neuronal apoptosis in vivo and in vitro, while BCE could effectively alleviate ER stress and neuronal apoptosis. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that BCE exhibits neuroprotective effects by reducing ER stress-mediated apoptosis after cerebral I/R injury. BCE may therefore be an effective therapeutic regimen against cerebral I/R damage.