Influence of curcumin in NO and S100β levels in brain tissue of rats after focal cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury

Objective To observe the influence of curcumin in the levels of nitric oxide(NO)and S100βin the brain tissue of the rats after cerebral ischemia reperfusion,and to explore the neuroprotective mechanism of curcumin.Methods Adult male SD rats were randomly divided into sham operation group,model group and curcumin group,and 18 rats in every group.Curcumin was intraperitoneally injected daily for 3consecutive days before inducing focal cerebral ischemia in the SD rats by middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO)for 2h.TTC staining was used to observe the infarction volume.Nitrate reductase assay was used to detect the level of NO in brain tissue of the rats.The level of S100βin brain was detected by ELISA method.Results Compared with model group,the brain infarction volumes of the rats 24 and 72hafter cerebral ischemia reperfusion in curcumin group were significantly decreased(P0.05).Compared with sham operation group,the NO and S100βlevels in the brain tissue 24and72 hafter cerebral ischemia reperfusion of the rats in model group were significantly increased(P0.05);compared with model group,the levels of NO in the brain tissue 24 and 72hafter cerebral ischemia reperfusion in curcumin group were remarkably decreased(P0.05);compared with modee group,the level of S100βin the brain tissue72 h after cerebral iscemia reperfusion in curcumin group was remarkably decreased(P 0.05).Conclusion Curcumin can significantly reduce the degree of ischemia reperfusion injury in the rats and reduce the levels of NO and S100βin brain tissue,which suggests that the decrease of NO and S100βlevels in brain tissue may be associated with the neuroprotective effect of curcumin.