Calpastatin peptide attenuates early brain injury following experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Calpastatin peptide attenuates early brain injury following experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage. Exp Ther Med. 2020 Apr;19(4):2433-2440 Authors: Teng F, Yin Y, Guo J, Jiang M Abstract Calpain activation may have an important role in early brain injury (EBI) following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). The present study investigated the effects of the calpastatin peptide, a cell-permeable peptide that functions as a potent inhibitor of calpain, on EBI in a rat SAH model. It was revealed that calpastatin peptide treatment significantly reduced SAH-induced body weight loss and neurological deficit at 72 h when compared with untreated SAH controls. Furthermore, the quantification of brain water content and the extravasation of Evans blue dye revealed a significant reduction in SAH-induced brain edema and blood-brain barrier permeability at 72 h due to treatment with the calpastatin peptide when compared with untreated SAH controls. Finally, calpastatin peptide treatment significantly attenuated the protein levels of Bax, cytochrome c, cleaved caspase-9 and cleaved caspase-3, and reduced the number of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labelling-positive cells in the basal cortex at 72 h after SAH when compared with untreated SAH controls. These results indicated that the calpastatin peptide may ameliorate EBI following SAH in rat models. PMID: 32226486 [PubMed]
Source: Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine - Category: General Medicine Tags: Exp Ther Med Source Type: research