Empagliflozin alleviates neuronal apoptosis induced by cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury through HIF-1α/VEGF signaling pathway.
Rania G Abdel-LatifRehab A RifaaiEntesar F AminPublished in: Archives of pharmacal research (2020)
Ischemic stroke is a serious condition associated with severe functional disability and high mortality, however; effective therapy remains elusive. Empagliflozin, a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor, has been shown to exert additional non-glycemic benefits including anti-apoptotic effects in different disease settings. Thereby, this study was designed to investigate the ameliorative effect of empagliflozin on the neuronal apoptosis exhibited in cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) in a rat model targeting HIF-1α/VEGF signaling which is involved in this insult. Global cerebral I/R injury was induced in male Wistar rats through occlusion of the bilateral common carotid arteries for 30 min followed by one-hour reperfusion. Empagliflozin doses of 1 and 10 mg/kg were administered 1 and 24 h after reperfusion. In I/R-injured rats, empagliflozin treatments significantly reduced infarct size and enhanced neurobehavioral functions in a dose-dependent manner. The drug alleviated neuronal death and cerebral injury inflicted by global ischemia as it suppressed neuronal caspase-3 protein expression. In parallel, protein expressions of HIF-1α and its downstream mediator VEGF were upregulated in the ischemic brain following empagliflozin treatment. The results indicated that empagliflozin attenuates cerebral I/R-induced neuronal death via the HIF-1α/VEGF cascade.
Keyphrases
- cerebral ischemia
- subarachnoid hemorrhage
- endothelial cells
- brain injury
- high glucose
- blood brain barrier
- vascular endothelial growth factor
- cell death
- oxidative stress
- signaling pathway
- ischemia reperfusion injury
- diabetic rats
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- drug induced
- cell cycle arrest
- type diabetes
- blood pressure
- acute myocardial infarction
- induced apoptosis
- multiple sclerosis
- drug delivery
- cardiovascular events
- heart failure
- pi k akt
- coronary artery disease
- insulin resistance
- mouse model
- epithelial mesenchymal transition
- combination therapy
- skeletal muscle
- weight loss
- binding protein
- cell proliferation
- risk factors
- blood flow
- percutaneous coronary intervention