Effect of Intravenous Injection of a Water Extract of Angelica Gigas Nakai on Gliosis in Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion in Rats

(6) Journal of Pharmacopuncture, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 5∼17, 2011

Effect of Intravenous Injection of a Water Extract of Angelica Gigas Nakai on Gliosis in Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion in Rats

Bong-Keun Song, Yong-Cheol Jeon, Sun-Ae Kim, An-Na Shim, Keemoon Seong, Eon-Jeon Lee

Abstract

Objectives: Gliosis becomes a physical and mechanical barrier to axonal regeneration. Reactive gliosis induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion is involved with up-regulation of CD81 and GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein). The current study is to examine the effect of the Angelica Gigas Nakai (intravenous injection: 100 mg/kg twice in a day) on the CD81 and the GFAP levels in the brains of rats after middle cerebral artery occlusion.

Methods: Cerebral infarction was induced by using a middle cerebral artery occlusion. After intravenous injection of a water extract of Angelica Gigas Nakai, the size of the cerebral infarction was measured. Examinations with an optical microscope were also used to detect the expressions of CD81 and GFAP in the brain of the rat.

Results: We found that the size of the cerebral infarction induced by MCAO (middle cerebral artery occlusion) in rats was smaller after intravenous injection of Angelica Gigas Nakai. We injected an extract of Angelica Gigas Nakai to the MCAO in rats, and the optical microscope study showed that Angelica Gigas Nakai had protected the cells of the hippocampus. We found that the levels of GFAP, CD81 and ERK in the brains of rats with cerebral infarction after MCAO were meaningfully decreased after intravenously injecting Angelica Gigas Nakai. We found that c-Fos expression in the brains of rats with cerebral infarction after MCAO was significantly increased after intravenously injecting Angelica Gigas Nakai.

Conclusions: These results indicate that Angelica Gigas Nakai can suppress the reactive gliosis, which disturbs astrocyte regeneration in the brain of a rat with cerebral infarction after MCAO by controlling the expressions of CD81 and GFAP. The effect may also be modulated by the up-regulation of c-Fos and ERK.

Key Words: Angelica Gigas Nakai; gliosis; CD81; GFAP; MCAO; astrocyte; c-Fos; ERK