Our study investigated the effect of combination treatment of experimental stroke with Breviscapine, an extract from an important traditional herb-plant of china, Erigeron breviscapus (vant.) Hand-Mazz., and Netrin-1 which is a secreted molecule related with laminin that has been perceived as a neuronal guidance cue, on functional outcome, and the pathological lesions in the cerebral ischemic rats. Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) can induce cerebral ischemia in Wistar rats. Adult male

more »

... ts were randomly separated into 5 groups: Netrin-1, Sham, Breviscapine, MCAO and combinational treatment groups. The effects of multi-drug on neurological deficits, water content of brain, size of cerebral infarction, and the malondialdehyde (MDA), the levels of Ca 2+ and Na +-K +-ATPase and SOD activities in the brain tissue were analyzed. Expression of prostaglandin EP2 & EP4 were detected as well. Furthermore, the analysis of Bcl 2 expression was performed by using western blotting. Both the neurological deficit score and the infarct size were greatly decreased and the water content of brain was reduced from 83.11 to 80.26% (P<0.05) with both pretreatment with Breviscapine, Netrin-1 and combination. Intervention drugs remarkably increased the activities of superoxide dismutase and Na +-K +-ATPase and reduced Ca 2+ and MDA levels in the brain tissue (P<0.05) in comparison with those in the MCAO group. Pretreatment with combinational drugs increased the protein expression level of Bcl-2 in comparison with that in the MCAO group. The histo-morphological study revealed that Breviscapine & Netrin-1 has protective effect on ischemic injury. The experimental results showed the protective effects of combinational therapy on rats with ischemic injury. The mechanism might have something to do with the inhibition of oxidative stress and apoptosis, and inducing prostaglandin EP2 & EP4 receptor activation.