This study aimed to investigate the modulation activity of heated and nonheated lactoferrins in an inflammatory pathway in
anoxia and reoxygenation cell and cerebral ischemic reperfusion mouse models. Rat
pheochromocytoma 12 (PC-12) cells were subjected to
oxygen and
glucose deprivation in vitro to construct an
anoxia and reoxygenation cell model, and Institute for
Cancer Research (ICR) mice were given carotid artery "
ligation-relaxation" in vivo to construct a cerebral ischemic reperfusion mouse model. The
protein levels of
toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) and downstream inflammatory
proteins including nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB),
tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and IL-1β were detected. Meanwhile, metabonomic detection of overall metabolites of PC-12 cells was performed to screen out the specific changed metabolite affected by
lactoferrin at the condition of
anoxia and reoxygenation. The results showed that
lactoferrin could inhibit the TLR-4-related pathway triggered by
anoxia and reoxygenation and ischemic reperfusion. A total of 41 significantly changed metabolites were identified by metabonomic analysis, and
glutathione was seen as a metabolite of interest in suppressing TLR-4-related pathway in
anoxia and reoxygenation cell models. However, heated
lactoferrin lost the ability of attenuating the TLR-4-related pathway. The loss of modulation activity of heated
lactoferrin might be due to its
protein aggregation, which was evidenced by larger average particle diameter than the unheated
lactoferrin. This study is the first to investigate the effect of heat treatment on the modulation activity of
lactoferrin in the TLR-4-related pathway in
anoxia and reoxygenation cell and cerebral ischemic reperfusion mouse models, and indicate that
lactoferrin may serve as a dietary intervention for
cerebral ischemia.