The inhibitory effects of Dracocephalum moldavica L. (DML) on rat cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury

Abstract

Ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) is closely associated with oxidative stress and inflammatory responses. Dracocephalum moldavica L. (DML), a Chinese herbal medicine is known to exert protective effects on myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury in rats by inhibiting oxidation damage and inflammatory reactions. However, the effectiveness of DML in cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury (CIRI) as a protective substance and the underlying mechanisms remain to be determined. The aim of this study was thus to examine the influence of DML on CIRI using a rat model induced by 2-h transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) produced by intraluminal suture blockade followed by 22 h reperfusion. The parameters determined include neurological behavior, histochemical assessment of cerebral infarct volume, and determination of various metabolic biomarkers. Data showed that DML markedly improved neurobehavioral scores and reduced cerebral edema and infarction. In addition, DML significantly reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) content and elevated activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), in addition, marked decrease in levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Data suggest that the protective effects of DML on CIRI may be related to processes involving antioxidation and anti-inflammation.

Tilianin Extracted From Dracocephalum moldavica L. Induces Intrinsic Apoptosis and Drives Inflammatory Microenvironment Response on Pharyngeal Squamous Carcinoma Cells via Regulating TLR4 Signaling Pathways

“…Southeastern Xinjiang is rich in D. moldavica, which is used as a popular herb in traditional Uygur folk medicine and serves as a single medicine prescription in the Uyghur Medicine Ministerial Standard. D. moldavica is mainly used for the treatment of a variety of cardiovascular diseases (Guo et al, 2015;Jia et al, 2017;Tan et al, 2017;Shen et al, 2019). Modern pharmacological studies have illustrated that the active ingredients in D. moldavica displayed the ability to prevent or treat neurodegenerative disorders and inflammatory disorders (García-Díaz et al, 2016;Liu et al, 2018), and suppressed the growth and proliferation of various types of cancer cells (Sato et al, 2015;Chakrabarti and Ray, 2016).…”

Dracocephalum moldavica L. Extracts Protect H9c2 Cardiomyocytes against H2O2-Induced Apoptosis and Oxidative Stress

“…The myocardial protective function of total flavonoid extract from D. moldavica L. has also been reported [13,20]. Recently, our group further demonstrated that D. moldavica L. attenuated cerebral ischemiareperfusion injury in rats by inhibiting inflammation and oxidative stress [21]. To date, however, the exact molecular The preliminary antioxidant activity results showed that the EtOAc fraction of D. moldavica L. ethanol extract exhibited the remarkable highest antioxidant activity in the four obtained fractions.…”

Tetrahydrocurcumin Provides Neuroprotection in Experimental Traumatic Brain Injury and the Nrf2 Signaling Pathway as a Potential Mechanism

“…MDA is considered the index of lipid peroxidation [21]. In addition, GPx and SOD are antioxidant enzymes, involved in the catalytic detoxification of superoxide and hydrogen peroxide [22, 23]. The conversion content of MDA, and the activity of GPx and SOD in the rat cortex samples proved that oxidative stress occurred following TBI [24, 25].…”