Protective effects of cedrol against transient global cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury in rat.

BACKGROUND

The natural compound cedrol possess anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. We sought to assess the neuroprotective effect of cedrol in an animal model of transient global ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury.

METHOD: To induce transient global cerebral I/R injury, bilateral carotid arteries were temporarily occluded for 20 min. A total of 40 male Wistar rats were randomly divided in to 5 groups; The control and global I/R groups, and the treatment groups that received cedrol at doses of 7.5, 15, and 30 mg/kg/day for a week, following the global I/R induction. The passive avoidance test was used for assessing memory function, and then hippocampal tissues were collected to assess levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), total thiol, nitric oxide (NO), and the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), along with the concentration of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).

RESULT: Our findings revealed that global I/R injury impaired rats' performance in the passive avoidance test and increased levels of MDA and NO. Moreover, it decreased the total thiol level, SOD activity, and BDNF level in the hippocampus. Administration of cedrol significantly improved memory function, reduced oxidative stress, NO level and increased BDNF level in the hippocampus.

CONCLUSION

The results indicate that cedrol has neuroprotective properties in global I/R by reducing oxidative stress and enhancing the levels of BDNF.