The experimental research of the protective effect of palm oil on focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats

Objective To investigate the effect of palm oil(PO) on the volume of the infarction,the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax protein following focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion in rats,and explore the protective effect of PO on focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion and the underlying mechanism.Methods The acute focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion models were established with suture emboli.Healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups: normal control group,sham group,IR group and PO group.There were 12 rats in each of the normal control group and the sham group.The IR group and PO group were further subdivided into subgroups and sacrificed 2 h,6 h,12 h,24 h,72 h and 7 d after ischemia/reperfusion(n=12).The volume of the infarction was observed by the TTC method;and the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax was determined by Western blotting to observe the protective effect of PO.Results ① TTC staining: there was no region of ischemia/reperfusion injury in the normal control group and the sham group.There was no region of ischemia/reperfusion injury in IR group and PO group 2 h after ischemia/reperfusion.At the time points of 6 h,12 h,24 h,72 h and 7 d after ischemia/reperfusion,there were statistical differences in mass percentage of the infracted regions between the PO group and the IR group(P0.05),and mass percentage of the infracted cerebral regions in the PO group was reduced as compared to the IR group.② Western-blotting: From the time point of 6h after reperfusion,in both PO group and IR group,the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax increased with time in the ischemia penumbra with peak expression at 12 h,and then decreased.The expression of Bax reached the peak at 24 h,and then decreased.Western-blotting analysis showed a gradual increase in Bcl-2 expression(P0.05) and a gradual decrease in Bax expression(P0.05) in PO group at each time point(6 h,12 h,24 h and 72 h after ischemia/reperfusion),compared with IR group.Conclusions ① PO can reduce the region of ischemia injury following focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury;② PO can protect nerve cells by increasing the expression of Bcl-2 and decreasing the expression of Bax,following the cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury.