Study on the neuroprotection of estrogen on cerebral ischemia associated with Bcl-2 protein over-expression

Objective:To study the neuroprotective effect of estrogen and the possible roles of expression of Bcl2 following cerebral ischemia injury.Methods:Female Wistar rats were all ovariectomized.Brain ischemia model was induced by left middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO) for 2 hours,at 22 hours after reperfusion.All animals were killed.Cerebral infarction volume was determined by 2,3,5triphenyltetrazlium chloride(TTC) staining and image analysis.The expression of Bcl2 was analyzed by immunohistochemical method.Results:(1) Cerebral infarction volumes were reduced significantly in all estrogentreated groups than operation control group ( P 0 05).(2)Estrogen increased the expression of Bcl2 ( P 0 05).Conclusions:Estrogen can effectively attenuate ischemic brain injury and increase the expression of neuronal Bcl2 in the ischemic brain,and it may be the machanism of neuroprotective in cerebral ischemia.