The effect of cerebral ischemic preconditioning on neural apoptosis following cerebral ischemia and reperfusion in gerbils

Objective: To investigate the influence of the cerebral ischemic preconditioning on the neural apoptosis following ischemia and reperfusion in gerbils.Methods: Cerebral ischemia was induced by occlusion of bilateral common carotid arteries.Gerbils were randomly divided into four groups: Sham-operation control group(SH): without cerebral ischemia;Cerebral ischemic preconditioning control group(IC): 2 min cerebral ischemia only;Cerebral ischemic preconditioning test group(IP): 2 min cerebral ischemia and 24 h reperfusion followed by cerebral ischemia 10 min;And cerebral ischemia-reperfusion(without preconditioning) group(IR).Observations were carried out in each subgroup 1d、3d、5d and 7d(each subgroup n=6),the apoptosis neurons in hippocampus CA1 region was counted.Results: The number of apoptosis neurons in hippocampus CA1 region were much less in group IP than in group IR(P0.01).Conclusion: Ischemic preconditioning can significantly enhance the tolerance of the following ischemia,The mechanism of protection may be that ischemic preconditioning can prevent neurons from apoptosis induced by ischemia.