The present study was to investigate the effect of pharmacological preconditioning of total
flavones of abelmoschl manihot (TFA) on cerebral ischemic
reperfusion injury in rats. Rat
cerebral ischemia/
reperfusion injury was induced by occluding the right middle cerebral artery (MCA). The
infarct size was determined by staining with 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazalium
chloride (TTC). The serum
malonaldehyde (MDA),
nitric oxide (NO) and
lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels were measured by using spectrophotometry; Inducible
NO synthase (iNOS)
mRNA expression was detected by RT-PCR method. The percentage of
cerebral infarction volume was 28.1 +/- 0.8 in the model group, while TFA or
nimodipine (Nim) pretreatment 36 hours prior to the ischemic insult significantly decreased the
infarction volume. Increases of serum LDH activity and MDA level were observed after
ischemia/reperfusion, but these changes were inhibited in rats pretreated with either TFA (20, 40, 80, 160 mg/kg) or Nim, indicating a delayed protective effect of TFA preconditioning on cerebral ischemic
reperfusion injury. In addition, the serum NO level and the cerebral iNOS
mRNA were up-regulated, suggesting a possible mechanism for the protective effect of TFA pretreatment on cerebral ischemic
reperfusion injury.