Neurodegeneration after transient brain ischemia in aged mice: Beneficial effects of bilobalide

Reduced severity of ischemic stroke and improvement of mitochondrial function after dietary treatment with the anaplerotic substance triheptanoin

“…Mitochondria were freshly isolated from mice which sustained transient MCAO 1 h before. Short-term ischemia caused a significant decrease in respiratory activity, measured as oxygen consumption, with significant effects in most complexes (Canevari et al, 1997;Janssens et al, 2000;Schwarzkopf et al, 2013). Pre-treatment with triheptanoin 14 days before onset of stroke maintained oxygen consumption in complex II and IV (Fig.…”

“…For microdialysis experiments, a self-made dialysis probe was implanted into the left mouse striatum as described before (Schwarzkopf et al, 2013) one day prior to MCAO. Mice were anesthetized with isoflurane (2% in synthetic air) and placed in a stereotaxic frame.…”

“…Transient in vivo-ischemia in mouse brain was induced by MCAO as previously described (Schwarzkopf et al, 2013). Briefly, mice were anesthetized with isoflurane (2% in synthetic air) and kept at 37°C using a thermostatic blanket coupled to a rectal thermometer (Harvard/Hugo Sachs, March-Hugstetten, Germany).…”

By Activating Akt/eNOS Bilobalide B Inhibits Autophagy and Promotes Angiogenesis Following Focal Cerebral Ischemia Reperfusion

“…Bilobalide, a sesquiterpene lactone that constitutes 2.9-3.2% of the Ginkgo extract EGb761, has been shown to have a wide variety of therapeutic applications on neurodegenerative disease and dementia [7]. Other studies found that bilobalide may improve the outcome of ischemic dementia by promoting the mitochondrial respiratory chain function [8,9] and down-regulaing nitric oxide [10]. However, the specific molecular mechanism underlying bilobalide mediated dementia protection needs to be further invesitgated.…”

Efficacy of prophylactic flavan-3-ol in permanent focal ischemia in 12-mo-old mice

“…On the other hand, it has been shown that EC inhibits NADPH oxidase in endothelial cells and thereby elevates the level of endothelial nitric oxide and induces vasodilation (53). Moreover, EC may have similar beneficial effects as reported for resveratrol and Gingko biloba, natural compounds that have been extensively studied by our laboratory and others because of its multiplicity of health benefits and pleiotropic actions (44,46,57). These natural compounds have been shown to elicit neuroprotection, in part, through downregulation of apoptotic enzymes (2, 20, 44, 48, 51, 57).…”