Astragalus injection inhibits expression of Apaf-1 in rat hippocampus after cerebral ischemia and reperfusion

AIM: To investigate the effect of Astragalus injection on the expression of apoptotic protease-activating factor 1 (Apaf-1) in the hippocampus of global cerebral ische-mia-reperfusion rats. METHODS: Male SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups with 30 each: sham operation group, cerebral ischemia-reperfusion group, cerebral ischemia-reperfusion+Astragalus injection group, and cerebral ischemia-reperfusion+vehicle group. The global cerebral ischemia-reperfusion model of the rats was established by 4-vessel occlusion. The rats in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion group, cerebral ischemia-reperfusion+Astragalus injection group and cerebral ischemia-reperfusion+vehicle group were further divided into 7 subsets, according to the reperfusion time of 0 h, 0.5 h, 2 h, 6 h, 24 h, 72 h and 120 h. After reperfusion, the brains were removed at the corresponding time points. The protein expression of Apaf-1 in hippocampal neurons was detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. The mRNA expression of Apaf-1 was observed by RT-PCR. RESULTS: Compared with sham operation group, the expression of Apaf-1 at mRNA and protein levels at all time points except 0 h and 120 h increased obviously in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion group (P<0.05). Compared with cerebral ischemia-reperfusion group, the expression of Apaf-1 at mRNA and protein levels at all time points except 0 h and 120 h decreased obviously in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion+Astragalus injection group (P<0.05). However, those in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion+vehicle group had no obvious change (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Astragalus injection inhibits the expression of Apaf-1 at mRNA and protein levels in hippocampus of global cerebral ischemia-reperfusion rats, thus inhibiting the apoptosis of hippocampal neurons.