Schisandrin B improves cerebral ischemia and reduces reperfusion injury in rats through TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway inhibition

ABSTRACT

It has been established that poor outcomes in ischemic stroke patients are associated with the post-reperfusion inflammatory response and up-regulation of TLR4. Therefore, suppression of the TLR4 signaling pathway constitutes a potential neuroprotective therapeutic strategy. Schisandrin B, a compound extracted from Schisandra chinensis, has been shown to possess anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties. However, the mechanism remains unclear. In the present study, the therapeutic effect of schisandrin B was assessed following cerebral ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) injury in a model of middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion (MCAO/R) in rats. The effects of schisandrin B were investigated with particular emphasis on TLR4 signal transduction and on the inflammatory response. Schisandrin B treatment conferred significant protection against MCAO/R injury, as evidenced by decreases in infarct volume, neurological score, and the number of apoptotic neurons and inflammatory signaling molecules.

Abbreviations

I/R: schemia/reperfusion; IL: interleukin; MCAO/R: middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion; NF-κB: nuclear; TLR4: Toll-like receptor 4; TNF-α: tumor necrosis factor-α

KEYWORDS:

• Schisandrin B
• neuroprotection
• ischemia/reperfusion injury
• inflammation
• apoptosis

Acknowledgments

This study were supported by Nantong science and technology plan project (MSZ18102) and Student Innovation Training Program of Nantong University (2018153).

Compliance with ethical standards

All the experimental and animal handling procedures were carried out in accordance with animal care guidelines and were approved ethically by the Administration Committee for Laboratory Animals, Jiangsu Province, China.

Author contributions

XF conceived and designed the study, obtained funded and ethics approval, analyzed the data, wrote the article in whole, revised the article. KE analyzed the data, wrote the article in whole, and revised the article. YS, ZZ and YC collected and analyzed the data. JG and JL collected the data, and obtained funded approval. CW conceived and designed the study. XJ conceived and designed the study, analyzed the data, wrote the article in whole, revised the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program (CN) [2018153]; Nantong science and technology plan project [MSZ18102].