Treadmill Pre-Training Ameliorates Brain Edema in Ischemic Stroke via Down-Regulation of Aquaporin-4: An MRI Study in Rats

作者：Zhijie He, Xiaolou Wang, Yi Wu, Jie Jia, Yongshan Hu, Xiaojiao Yang, Jianqi Li, Mingxia Fan, Li Zhang, Jinchun Guo, Mason C.P. Leung · 发表于：PLoS ONE · 年份：2014 · DOI：10.1371/journal.pone.0084602 · 被引用次数：41 · 研究领域：Barrier Structure and Function Studies、Cerebrospinal fluid and hydrocephalus、Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications

OBJECTIVE: Treadmill pre-training can ameliorate blood brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction in ischemia-reperfusion injury, however, its role in ischemic brain edema remains unclear. This study assessed the neuroprotective effects induced by treadmill pre-training, particularly on brain edema in transient middle cerebral artery occluded model. METHODS: Transient middle cerebral artery occlusion to induce stroke was performed on rats after 2 weeks of treadmill pre-training. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to evaluate the dynamic impairment of cerebral edema after ischemia-reperfusion injury. In addition, measurements of wet and dry brain weight, Evans Blue assay and Garcia scores were performed to investigate the cerebral water content, BBB permeability and neurologic deficit, respectively. Moreover, during ischemia-reperfusion injury, the expression of Aquaporin 4 (AQP4) was detected using immunofluorescence and Western bloting analyses. RESULTS: Treadmill pre-training improved the relative apparent diffusion coefficient (rADC) loss in the ipsilateral cortex and striatum at 1 hour and 2.5 hours after cerebral ischemia. In the treadmill pre-training group, T2W1 values of the ipsilateral cortex and striatum increased less at 7.5 hours, 1 day, and 2 days after stroke while the brain water content decreased at 2 days after ischemia. Regarding the BBB permeability, the semi-quantitative amount of contrast agent leakage of treadmill pre-training group significantly decreased. ...