Cerebral protection effect and mechanism of propofol on global cerebral ischemia and reperfusion damage in rats

ObjectiveTo determine the cerebral protection effect and mechanism of propofol on global cerebral ischemia and reperfusion damage in rats.Methods19 adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups, ischemia group (n=7), propofol group (n=7), and sham injury group (n=5). Global cerebral ischemia and reperfusion model were made by means of Pulsinelli's method. Rats in propofol group were anesthesia with propofol at the dosage of 1.5 ml/h for 30 min at the beginning of reperfusion. Apoptosis and necrosis rate were detected by cytometry. In the same time, bcl 2, Bax and p53 protein expression in hippocampus neurons were detected. ResultsThe apoptosis and necrosis rate in propofol group were significantly decreased as compared with ischemia group ( P0.05). Bax and p53 protein expression in hippocampus neurons were also significantly decreased as compared with ischemia group ( P0.05), however, no significant findings in bcl 2 protein expression ( P0.05).ConclusionPropofol can decrease apoptosis and necrosis rate in cerebral ischemia reperfusion injured neuron, and the mechanism maybe related to decreasing the expression of Bax, p53 protein.