Cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) induced by
hemorrhagic shock and reperfusion (HSR) is the main cause of death following
trauma. Previous studies indicated the
neuroprotective effect of
sevoflurane postconditioning (SP) in cerebral IRI. However, the mechanisms still remain elusive. Cerebral IRI models with SP were established by using HSR with C57BL/6 mice (male, 3-month-old) in vivo and by using
oxygen glucose deprivation and reoxygenation (OGD/R) with HT22 cells in vitro. Postoperative cognition was evaluated by the Morris water maze, novel object recognition, and elevated plus maze tests. The role of
SIRT1 was determined by using
siRNA, a sensitive inhibitor (EX527), or an overexpression
shRNA-GFP lentivirus. IRI caused significant disabilities of spatial learning and memory associated with enhanced
cerebral infarct and neuronal apoptosis, which were effectively attenuated by SP. IRI also made a significant decrease of
SIRT1 accompanied by oxidative stress,
mitochondria dysfunction, and inactivated autophagy. SP or genetically overexpressing
SIRT1 significantly suppressed defective autophagy, mitochondrial oxidative injury, and neuronal death caused by HSR or OGD/R. However, genetic suppression or pharmacological inhibition of
SIRT1 significantly reversed the impact of SP treatment on
mitochondrial DNA transcription ability and autophagy. Our results demonstrate that the loss of
SIRT1 causes a sequential chain of
mitochondrial dysfunction, defective autophagy, and neuronal apoptosis after IRI in the preclinical
stroke models.
Sevoflurane postconditioning treatment could effectively attenuate pathophysiological signatures induced by noxious stimuli, which maybe mediated by
SIRT1.