Study on protective effects of curcumin on cerebral ischemia reperfusion

Objective:to investigate the protective effects and mechanisms of curcumin after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion(I/R) injury in rats.Method:The model of middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO) and reperfusion was set up using an intraluminal filament method.Fifty Wistar male rats were randomly divided into sham operation group,ischemic group and 100mg/kg,300mg/kg curcumin treated group.The rats in ischemic group and curcumin treated group were killed 24 hours after cerebral ischemia and reperfusion.We studied neurological scores and infarct size.Using the method of TUNEL and immunohistochemical staining to measure the number of neural apoptotic cells and Bcl-2?Bax protein expression.Result:Compared with the ischemic group,Curcumin decreased the neurological scores,infarct size and the number of neural apoptotic cells.The expression of Bcl-2 protein was increased significantly(P0.01) and the expression of Bax protein in curcumin treated group were decreased(P0.05).Conclusion:Curcumin can decrease apoptosis by up-regulating Bcl-2 protein expression and down-regulating Bax protein expression.It has protective effect on the injury of ischemia and reperfusion.