Stroke is the second-leading cause of death worldwide, and
tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) is the only
drug used for a limited group of
stroke patients in the acute phase.
Buyang Huanwu Decoction (BHD), a
traditional Chinese medicine prescription, has long been used for improving neurological functional recovery in
stroke. In this study, we characterized the
therapeutic effect of TPA and BHD in a
cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (CIR) injury mouse model using multiplex proteomics approach. After the iTRAQ-based proteomics analysis, 1310
proteins were identified from the mouse brain with <1% false discovery rate. Among them, 877 quantitative
proteins, 10.26% (90/877), 1.71% (15/877), and 2.62% (23/877) of the
proteins was significantly changed in the CIR, BHD treatment, and TPA treatment, respectively. Functional categorization analysis showed that BHD treatment preserved the integrity of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) (Alb, Fga, and Trf), suppressed excitotoxicity (Grm5, Gnai, and Gdi), and enhanced energy metabolism (Bdh), thereby revealing its multiple effects on
ischemic stroke mice. Moreover, the neurogenesis marker doublecortin was upregulated, and the activity of
glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3) and Tau was inhibited, which represented the
neuroprotective effects. However, TPA treatment deteriorated BBB breakdown. This study highlights the potential of BHD in clinical applications for
ischemic stroke.