EFFECT OF BASIC FIBROBLAST GROWTH FACTOR ON BEHAVIOR CAPABILITY AND NEURONS IN THE DENTATE GYRUS OF RATS WITH ATHEROSCLEROSIS AFTER CEREBRAL ISCHEMIA REPERFUSION INJURY

Abstract

The study aimed to examine the behavior capability and morphological structure on neurons in the dentate gyrus of rats with atherosclerosis (AS) after cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) and observe the effect of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on the IRI model rats with AS. Forty Wister rats were randomly divided into the control group, the AS group, the IRI group and the bFGF treatment group. Middle cerebral artery occlusion model rats were established. The bFGF was injected into the abdominal cavity in rats of the bFGF treatment group, and an identical volume physiological saline was given for the other three groups. The colorimetric method was used to detect the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the malondialdehyde (MDA) content. Western blot was performed for detecting the expression of caspase-3 protein of the rat dentate gyrus. The BrdU-positive cells and ultrastructures of neurons were observed and quantitative analysis was performed. The results indicated that compared with the control group, the behavior capability in the AS group and the IRI group decreased but that of the bFGF treatment group obviously improved (p < 0.05). The content of MDA significantly increased in the AS group and the IRI group (p < 0.05). After treatment with bFGF, the SOD activity of rat brain tissue obviously increased and the content of MDA decreased (p < 0.05), and the number of neurons increased along with Nissl bodies in the cytoplasm. Compared with the control group, expression of caspase-3 protein in the bFGF treatment group obviously decreased (p < 0.05). The quantity of BrdU-positive cells of the rat dentate gyrus in the bFGF treatment group was obviously higher than those of other three groups (p < 0.05). The morphological structure on neurons in the bFGF treatment group was improved compared with the IRI group. bFGF could efficiently improve the behavior ability and decrease the pathological lesion of the rat dentate gyrus of the IRI rats with AS, which might promote the neuroprotective effect in the cerebrovascular disease.