The role and mechanism of the mTOR signaling pathway in the impaired cognitive function in
cerebral ischemia-reperfusion were examined in the present study. Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were divided into the
sham operation,
cerebral ischemia,
cerebral ischemia-reperfusion and
cerebral ischemia-reperfusion adaptive groups. A Morris water maze test was carried out in the different treatment groups at 2 weeks after surgery to detect cognitive function. After the experimental animals were sacrificed, fluorescent quantitative PCR test was used to detect the key signaling molecules in the mTOR signaling pathway in the different treatment groups, such as mTOR, p-mTOR, AKT and p-AKT gene
mRNA expression. The
protein expression was determined by
enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay and western blotting. mTOR expression and localization in the different treatment groups was detected by immunohistochemistry, and the positive cell rate was determined. Compared with the
sham operation group, the levels of mTOR, p-mTOR, AKT and p-AKT mRNAs and hippocampal
proteins were significantly lower in the
cerebral ischemia group and
cerebral ischemia-reperfusion group (P<0.05). Levels of mTOR, p-mTOR, AKT and p-AKT mRNAs and
proteins in the
cerebral ischemia-reperfusion adaptive group decreased but did not show significant differences (P>0.05). The Morris water maze results showed that, the adaptive ability and the cognitive functions were improved significantly in the
cerebral ischemia-reperfusion adaptive group when compared with the
cerebral ischemia and
cerebral ischemia-reperfusion groups (P<0.05). The number of mTOR-positive cells in hippocampus was significantly higher in the
sham operation and
cerebral ischemia-reperfusion adaptive groups, but there was no difference between these groups. In conclusion, mTOR signaling pathway improves the cognitive function in
cerebral ischemia-reperfusion in rats.