Effect of ulinastatin on neuronal apoptosis and cognitive function after transient focal cerebral ischemiaª²reperfusion in rats

    GAO Jie, WU Ying

    1Department of Pediatrics, Affiliated Hospital, 2Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Preventive Medicine, North China Coal Medical College, Tangshan 063000, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To investigate the effect of ulinastatin on neuronal apoptosis and cognitive function after transient focal cerebral ischemiaª²reperfusion (IR) in rats. METHODS: The focal ischemiaª²reperfusion model was made by thread embolism of middle cerebral artery. After administration of ulinastatin, the apoptosis of cells was observed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl trasferaseª²mediated dUTPª²biotin in situ nick end labeling (TUNEL) technique, and the cognitive dysfuction was evaluated by the method of Morris water maze (MWM). RESULTS: A small quantity of apoptosisª²positive cells were observed in the CA1 area of hippocampus at 6 h after IR in rats, reaching the peak at 48-72 h. Ulinastatin obviously decreased the apex of apoptosisª²positive cells in hippocampus(P©‚0.01). Morris water maze tests showed that the delitescence of IR group was longer than that in normal group and the delitescence of ulinastatin group was shorter than that in IR group. CONCLUSION: Ulinastatin may effectively suppress apoptosis of nerve cells after IR and improve the cognitive function. ......