Effects of Acanthopanax senticosus on brain apoptosis and expression of Bcl-2,Bax in rat after intracerebral hemorrhage

Objective To observe the effects of Acanthopanax senticosus (AS) on brain apoptosis and expression of Bcl-2,Bax protein in rats after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and explore the protective mechanism of AS on neural cell. Methods Male Wistar rats were divided randomly into normal,model,sham operated and therapy groups. The therapy group included high-and low-dose AS therapy groups. Models of ICH were established on local injection of collagenase into caudate nucleus. The therapy group rats were treated with AS. Rats of all groups were killed at specific times and apoptosis level and the change of Bcl-2,Bax were detected. Results Apoptosis cells in therapy group were significantly decreased compared with that of model group at 12 h,1,3 and 7 d (P0.01,P0.05). The expression of Bcl-2 protein in therapy group were significantly increased compared with that of model group at 12 h,1,3 and 7 d (P0.01,P0.05). The expression of Bax protein in therapy group were significantly increased compared with that of model group at 12 h,1,3 and 7 d (P0.01,P0.05). Conclusions AS could greatly reduce the amount of apoptosis cells after ICH,which probably relates to high expression of Bcl-2 protein and lower expression of Bax protein.