Proteomics profiling of pituitary, adrenal gland, and splenic lymphocytes in rats with middle cerebral artery occlusion.

Ischemic strokes are often accompanied by serious brain injury and poor prognosis, but the molecular mechanisms of primary and secondary injury have not been fully understood. The aim of the present study was to investigate the protein profile in the rat pituitary, adrenal gland, and splenic lymphocyte using proteomics techniques, and to elucidate potential changes in the immune neuroendocrine system following cerebral ischemia injury in rats. Out of the 41 differentially expressed protein spots identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS-TOF), 13 proteins were closely related to the immune and/or the neuroendocrine system, and the other proteins might have different functions through other mechanisms in middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) rats. The results showed that (i) the immune neuroendocrine system was obviously changed, and the changes might be important pathological mechanisms in brain injury after cerebral ischemia, and (ii) ischemic brain damage is co-regulated by several mechanisms. The results might lay the foundations for further research on pathological mechanisms in cerebral ischemia.