Ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) is associated with poor prognoses in the setting of ischemic
brain diseases. Silence information regulator 1 (
SIRT1) is a member of the third class of
nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (
NAD+)-dependent
sirtuins. Recently, the role of
SIRT1/
peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor-γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α) pathway in organ (especially the brain) protection under various pathological conditions has been widely investigated.
Mangiferin (MGF), a natural C-glucosyl
xanthone polyhydroxy
polyphenol, has been shown to be beneficial to several
nervous system diseases and the protective effects of MGF can be achieved through the regulation of
SIRT1 signaling. This study is designed to investigate the protective effects of MGF treatment in the setting of cerebral IRI and to elucidate the potential mechanisms. We first evaluated the toxicity of MGF and chose the safe concentrations for the following experiments. MGF exerted obvious neuroprotection against
hypoxia/reoxygenation (HR)-induced injury, indicated by restored cell viability and cell morphology, decreased
lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release and
reactive oxygen species generation. MGF also restored the
protein expressions of
SIRT1, PGC-1α, Nrf2, NQO1, HO-1, NRF1, UCP2, and Bcl2 down-regulated by HR treatment. However,
SIRT1 siRNA could reverse MGF-induced neuroprotection and decrease the expressions of molecules mentioned above. Taken together, our findings suggest that MGF treatment exerts neuroprotection against HR injury via activating
SIRT1/PGC-1α signaling. These findings may provide a theoretical basis for the exploitation of MGF as a potential
neuroprotective drug candidate, which may be beneficial for the
ischemic stroke patients in clinic.