Neural apoptosis following cerebral ischemic preconditioning in rats

Objective To determine influence of the cerebral ischemia preconditioning on the neural apoptosis. Methods The whole cerebral ischemia was induced with four-blood vessel occlusion. Twentyone Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups, sham--operation control group (group A, n = 5 ): without cerebral ischemia; cerebral ischemic preconditioning control group (group B, n = 5 ): 3 min cerebral ischemia only; cerebral ischemic preconditioning group (group C, n = 5): 3 min cerebral ischemia and 24 h reperfusion followed by cerebral ischemia 10 min; and cerebral ischemia group(group D, n = 6): cerebral ischemia 10 min. The apoptotic neural cells were detected by flow cytometry in the rat neocortex. Results The apoptotic cells percentages of group A, B, C and D were (0. 2680 ±0. 2035 ) %, (0. 2780 ±0. 1780) %, (0. 3500 ±0 .0744) % and (0. 6280 ±0 .2181 ) %, respectively. Without significant differeces between group A, B and C (P 0 .05 ), but the apoptotic cells percentages were markedly in group A, B and C lower than in group D (P 0.05 ) .Conclusions Cerebral ischemic preconditioning can suppress the apoptosis of neural cells following ischemia.