Puerarin protected the brain from cerebral ischemia injury via astrocyte apoptosis inhibition

Puerarin is extensively attractive because of its superior neuroprotective effects in stroke prevention. This paper focused on the protective effect of puerarin both in vivo and in vitro. Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) was operated on male Sprague-Dawley rat for 2 h, different doses of puerarin (2.62, 7.86 and 23.59 mg/kg) or vehicle were gavaged 1 h after reperfusion. Rats were sacrificed after 24 h or 7 days treatment of puerarin/vehicle. In 7.86 and 23.59 mg/kg groups, infarct volume was reduced (P < 0.05) when puerarin was given once; 7 days puerarin intervention further reduced the infarct volume (P < 0.05) compared with vehicle-treated animal. The modified neurological severity score (mNSS) was also raised in day 4 in 7.86 and 23.59 mg/kg groups and in all groups in day 7 compared with vehicle (P < 0.05). The number of Nissl body, cleaved caspase-3 and GFAP positive cells increased observably after stroke in dose-dependence in rats. In our in vitro study, we have found that puerarin inhibited the pro-apoptosis factor and upregulated the BDNF secret of astrocytes after OGD-R. This indicated that the repairing effect of puerarin was associated with the astrocyte protection.