Pretreatment with scutel aria baicalensis stem-leaf total flavonoid has protective effects against ischemia and attenuates myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. In this study, rats were given scu-tel aria baicalensis stem-leaf total flavonoid intragastrical y at 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg per day for 7 days before focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury models were established using the suture method. We then determined the protective effects of scutel aria baicalensis stem-leaf total flavo-noid pretreatment on focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. Results showed that neurological deficit scores increased, infarct volumes enlarged, apoptosis increased and Bcl-2 and Bax protein expression were upregulated at 24 hours after reperfusion. Pretreatment with scutel aria baicalensis stem-leaf total flavonoid at any dose lowered the neurological deficit scores, reduced the infarct volume, prevented apoptosis in hippocampal cells, attenuated neuronal and blood-brain barrier damage and upregulated Bcl-2 protein expression but inhibited Bax protein expression. Doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg were the most efficacious. Our findings indicate that pretreatment with scutel a-ria baicalensis stem-leaf total flavonoid at 100 and 200 mg/kg can improve the neurological func-tions and have preventive and protective roles after focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Experimental, clinical and epidemiologic studies have provided strong evidence that physical training has beneficial effects on cardiovascular health. Numerous investigations have demonstrated that exercise increases coronary blood flow and myocardial perfusion. Importantly, training also can stimulate angiogenesis and accelerate collateral vessel growth in animal models with coronary artery occlusion. Cardiac adaptation such as increased vascularity or capillary density has been evidenced after regular endurance exercises. More recently, several studies indicate that physical training induces high levels of myocardial heat shock protein and antioxidant protein expression, which may play an important role in myocardial protection against ischemia-reperfusion injury.

BACKGROUND:?Inevitable? warm? ischemia? time? before?organ?procurement?aggravates?posttransplantation?ischemia-reperfusion? injury.? Endoplasmic? reticulum? (ER)? stress? is?involved?in?ischemia-reperfusion?injury,?but?its?role?in?donation?after?cardiac?death?(DCD)?liver?transplantation?is?not?clear?and?the?effect?of?ER?stress?inhibitors,?tauroursodeoxycholic?acid?(TUDCA)?and?4-phenyl?butyric?acid?(PBA),?on?the?prognosis?of?recipient?of?DCD?liver?transplantation?remains?unclear.
METHODS:?Male? Sprague-Dawley? rats? (8-10? weeks)? were?randomly?divided?into?control?group:?liver?grafts?without?warm?ischemia?were?implanted;?DCD?group:?warm?ischemia?time?of?the?liver?grafts?was?60?minutes;?TUDCA?and?PBA?groups:?based?on?the?DCD?group,?donors?were?intraperitoneally?injected?with?TUDCA?or?PBA?30?minutes?before?the?organ?procurements.?Serum? aminotransferase? levels,? oxidative? stress? activation?and?expression?of?ER?stress?signal?molecules?were?evaluated.?Pathological?examinations?were?performed.?The?survivals?of?the?recipients?in?each?group?were?compared?for?14?days.
RESULTS:?Compared?with?the?control?group,?DCD?rats?had?signiifcantly?higher?levels?of?serum?aminotransferase?at?6?hours,?1?day?and?3?days?after?operation?(P<0.01,?0.01?and?0.05,?respectively)?and?oxidative?indices?(P<0.01?for?both?malondialdehyde?and?8-hydroxy?deoxyguanosine),?more?severe?liver?damage?(P<0.01)?and? up-regulated? ER? stress? signal? expressions? (P<0.01? for?GRP78,?phos-eIF2α1,?CHOP,?ATF-4,?ATF-6,?PERK,?XBP-1?and?pro-caspase-12).?All?recipients?died?within?3?days?after?liver?transplantation.?Administration?of?TUDCA?or?PBA?signiifcantly?decreased?aminotransferase?levels?(P<0.05),?increased?superoxide?dismutase?activities?(P<0.01),?alleviated?liver?damage?(P<0.01),?down-regulated? ER? stress? signal? expressions? (P<0.01)? and?improved?postoperative?survivals?(P<0.01).
CONCLUSIONS:?ER?stress?was?involved?with?DCD?liver?trans-plantation?in?rats.?Preoperative?intraperitoneally?injection?of?TUDCA?or?PBA?protected?ER?stress?and?improved?prognosis.