Effect of bone morphogenetic protein-7 on expressions of nestin and GFAP in rats with cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury

Aim To explore the effect of bone morphogenetic protein-7(BMP-7)on expressions of nestin and glial fiberillary acidic protein(GFAP)in brain tissue of rat after cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury.Methods Ten rats from 40 healthy adult male Sprague-Dawley rats received sham-operation.The other rats were subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO) for 2 hours.The 20 successfully modeled rats were equally randomized into the treatment group and control group.Rats in the treatment group were intervened with BMP-7(0.1 mg·kg-1) 250 μl via caudal vein injection,while rats in control group and sham-operation group were injected with equal volume of sterile water for injection.Neurological deficits were evaluated by Bederson′s method at 24 h after ischemia-reperfusion.The infarction volume of brain was investigated by 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride coloring.The neuronal apoptosis was assessed by TUNEL staining and the expression of nestin and GFAP of thethree groups were analyzed by immunohistochemistry method.Results The Bederson′s score(t=4.66,P0.01) and focus infarction(t=6.98,P0.01)were lower in BMP-7 treatment group than those in control group.Besides,the number of TUNEL positive cells in treatment group was lower than those in control group(P0.01).Compared with the control group,the expression of nestin and GFAP enhanced in BMP-7 treatment group(P0.01).Conclusion BMP-7 can up-regulate the expression of nestin and GFAP,and promote neural regeneration to protect animals against ischemia injury.