Effects of flavonoids from Scutellaria stems and leaves on memory impairment and nerve inflammation in chronic cerebral ischemia rats

OBJECTIVE To explore the effect of flavonoids from Scutellaria baicalensis stems and leaves(SSF) on memory impairment and nerve inflammation in chronic cerebral ischemia rats.METHODS A chronic cerebral ischemia model was established by bilateral carotid artery occulation of 2 months in female SD rats.Functions of learning and memory were detected by Morris water maze,expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein(GFAP) was observed by immunohistochemical method and the levels of IL-1β,TNF-α,IL-8 and IL-10 were determined with ELISA method.RESULTSCompared with sham group,relearning ability and retention ability significantly decreased,GFAP expression significantly increased,IL-1β,TNF-α and IL-8 levels rose noticeably and IL-10 content was notably lowered in cerebral ischemia rats,respectively(P0.01).However,compared with cerebral ischemia model group,SSF 17.5,35 and 70 mg·kg-1 for 38 d could significantly improve the impairment of relearning ability and retention ability,effectively inhibit GFAP expression(P0.05),lowered IL-1β,TNF-α and IL-8 levels and enhance IL-10 content(P0.01).CONCLUSION SSF can reduce memory impairment and nerve inflammation in chronic cerebral ischemia rats,which may be due to the inhibition of the proliferation of astrocyte and lowered inflammatory cytokine production in the brain.