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Updated: May 9, 2025
Monitoring Astrocyte Reactivity and Proliferation in Vitro Under Ischemic-Like Conditions
Published on: October 21, 2017
Icaritin promotes brain functional rehabilitation in ischemic stroke rats by regulating astrocyte activation and
Guangjun Su1, Zining Yu2, Gaigai Liu3
1Key Laboratory of Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Diseases of Ministry of Education, Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Pharmacology of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ganzhou Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine of Cerebrovascular Disease, First Affiliated Hospital, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou 341000, China; School of Public Health and Health, Xinyu University, Xinyu 338000, China.
Background:
Cerebral ischemic injury induces the polarization of astrocytes toward two different phenotypes, i.e., the proinflammatory A1 phenotype and the protective, anti-inflammatory A2 phenotype, affects the prognosis of cerebral ischemia. To explore the neuroprotective effect of phytoestrogens ICT on cerebral ischemic rehabilitation and the preliminary mechanism of regulating astrocyte polarization.
Methods:
Transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO)/reperfusion was performed on rats and then treated with ICT (i.p.) once daily for 28 days. Intervention of GPER specific inhibitor G15 was repeated. The body weight, Garcia JH scale, right/left brain weight ratio, CatWalk gait test and Y maze test to assess overall neural function in rats. Inflammatory factors in ischemic cortical were detected by Western blotting. The number of newborn neurons was observed by BrdU staining, and the double immunofluorescence staining and Western blotting to evaluated the activation and A1 and A2 polarization of astrocytes.
Results:
The results showed that ICT treatment markedly perfected functional outcomes on a long-term basis after ischemic stroke, it also improved learning and memory and gait. ICT inhibited the polarization of A1 type astrocytes and promoted the polarization of A2 type astrocytes, promote neuron regeneration in hippocampus DG region. G15 removes some of the protective effects of ICT.
Conclusions:
The experimental results show that ICT exerts neuroprotective effects and regulates astrocyte polarization through GPER, suggesting that it may be a potential therapeutic agent for ischemic stroke during the recovery period.
