Potassium Aspartate Attenuates Brain Injury Induced by Controlled Cortical Impact in Rats Through Increasing Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) Levels, Na+/K+-ATPase Activity and Reducing Brain Edema

Lipoxin A4 attenuated dexamethasone-induced muscle atrophy via activation of PGC-1α/Nrf2/TFAM pathway

Prolonged dexamethasone (DEX) administration causes skeletal muscle atrophy through induction of both oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction. Lipoxin A4 (LXA4) is a recognized antioxidant but its effect against DEX-induced muscle atrophy has not been studied yet. This study aimed to assess the potential ameliorating effect of LXA4 on DEX-induced muscle atrophy and investigate the possible involvement of the mitochondrial dynamics pathway and the redox state in this effect. Forty male rats were divided into four groups; normal control, LXA4-treated, DEX-treated, and LXA4 plus DEX-treated. At the end of the experiment, LXA4 counteracted the effect of DEX on different parameters including muscle weight, muscle strength, serum creatine kinase activity, malondialdehyde and protein carbonyl contents, Na/K-ATPase and citrate synthase activities, mitochondrial transmembrane potential, mitochondrial transcription factor (TFAM), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1α), and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2). These findings signify the promising therapeutic effect of LXA4 against DEX-induced skeletal muscle atrophy and indicate the possible involvement of LXA4-induced mitochondrial activation in addition to its well-known antioxidant effects.

Porous Silicon Nanoparticles Targeted to the Extracellular Matrix for Therapeutic Protein Delivery in Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of disability and death among children and young adults in the United States, yet there are currently no treatments that improve the long-term brain health of patients. One promising therapeutic for TBI is brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that promotes neurogenesis and neuron survival. However, outstanding challenges to the systemic delivery of BDNF are its instability in blood, poor transport into the brain, and short half-life in circulation and brain tissue. Here, BDNF is encapsulated into an engineered, biodegradable porous silicon nanoparticle (pSiNP) in order to deliver bioactive BDNF to injured brain tissue after TBI. The pSiNP carrier is modified with the targeting ligand CAQK, a peptide that binds to extracellular matrix components upregulated after TBI. The protein cargo retains bioactivity after release from the pSiNP carrier, and systemic administration of the CAQK-modified pSiNPs results in effective delivery of the protein cargo to injured brain regions in a mouse model of TBI. When administered after injury, the CAQK-targeted pSiNP delivery system for BDNF reduces lesion volumes compared to free BDNF, supporting the hypothesis that pSiNPs mediate therapeutic protein delivery after systemic administration to improve outcomes in TBI.

Cerebrolysin restores balance between excitatory and inhibitory amino acids in brain following concussive head injury. Superior neuroprotective effects of TiO2 nanowired drug delivery

Concussive head injury (CHI) often associated with military personnel, soccer players and related sports personnel leads to serious clinical situation causing lifetime disabilities. About 3-4k head injury per 100k populations are recorded in the United States since 2000-2014. The annual incidence of concussion has now reached to 1.2% of population in recent years. Thus, CHI inflicts a huge financial burden on the society for rehabilitation. Thus, new efforts are needed to explore novel therapeutic strategies to treat CHI cases to enhance quality of life of the victims. CHI is well known to alter endogenous balance of excitatory and inhibitory amino acid neurotransmitters in the central nervous system (CNS) leading to brain pathology. Thus, a possibility exists that restoring the balance of amino acids in the CNS following CHI using therapeutic measures may benefit the victims in improving their quality of life. In this investigation, we used a multimodal drug Cerebrolysin (Ever NeuroPharma, Austria) that is a well-balanced composition of several neurotrophic factors and active peptide fragments in exploring its effects on CHI induced alterations in key excitatory (Glutamate, Aspartate) and inhibitory (GABA, Glycine) amino acids in the CNS in relation brain pathology in dose and time-dependent manner. CHI was produced in anesthetized rats by dropping a weight of 114.6g over the right exposed parietal skull from a distance of 20cm height (0.224N impact) and blood-brain barrier (BBB), brain edema, neuronal injuries and behavioral dysfunctions were measured 8, 24, 48 and 72h after injury. Cerebrolysin (CBL) was administered (2.5, 5 or 10mL/kg, i.v.) after 4-72h following injury. Our observations show that repeated CBL induced a dose-dependent neuroprotection in CHI (5-10mL/kg) and also improved behavioral functions. Interestingly when CBL is delivered through TiO₂ nanowires superior neuroprotective effects were observed in CHI even at a lower doses (2.5-5mL/kg). These observations are the first to demonstrate that CBL is effectively capable to attenuate CHI induced brain pathology and behavioral disturbances in a dose dependent manner, not reported earlier.

Effects of Xingpi Kaiyu Fang on ATP, Na/K-ATPase, and Respiratory Chain Complexes of Hippocampus and Gastrocnemius Muscle in Depressed Rats

Objective

To clarify the effectiveness and mechanism of the Chinese herbal formula Xingpi Kaiyu Fang (XPKYF) which is composed of American ginseng (Xi-Yang-shen), Radix curcumae (Yu-Jin), Acori tatarinowii rhizoma (Shi-Chang-pu), and Hypericum perforatum (Guan-Ye-lian-qiao) in depressed rats.

Methods

The rat model of depression was established by chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) method for 6 weeks. Rats were randomly divided into six groups: control group, CUMS group, CUMS+XPKYF (3.6g/kg/d, 7.2g/kg/d, 14.4g/kg/d) groups, and CUMS+sertraline (4.5mg/kg/d) group. The sucrose preference test and the forced swimming test were performed to assess the rats' depression behavior. Mitochondrial ultrastructure was observed by transmission electron microscope and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content, sodium potassium ATPase (Na/K-ATPase) activity, and mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes activities in hippocampus and gastrocnemius muscle were measured at the 14^th and 42^nd day.

Results

Rats subjected to six weeks of CUMS exhibited decreased sucrose preference ratio and prolonged immobility time. CUMS reduced ATP content in hippocampus, decreased Na/K-ATPase activity and respiratory chain complex I, III, and IV activities in hippocampus and gastrocnemius muscle, and damaged mitochondrial ultrastructure of hippocampus and gastrocnemius muscle. XPKYF at 14.4g/kg, the efficacy trend of which was better than the other drug groups, could prevent the stress-induced depressed behavior changes, inhibit the decrease of Na/K-ATPase activity in hippocampus, inhibit the decrease of respiratory chain complex III activities in hippocampus and gastrocnemius muscle, and protect mitochondria from ultrastructural damage.

Conclusions

Energy deficiency and damaged mitochondrial ultrastructure were found in hippocampus and gastrocnemius muscle of depressed rats established by CUMS. XPKYF could partly reverse alterations in ATP, Na/K-ATPase, and respiratory chain complexes of hippocampus and gastrocnemius muscle and protect mitochondria from ultrastructural damage. This provides another experimental evidence for the clinical application of XPKYF in the treatment of depression.

Metabolomics reveals the effect of Xuefu Zhuyu Decoction on plasma metabolism in rats with acute traumatic brain injury

Xuefu Zhuyu Decoction (XFZY), an important traditional Chinese herbal formula, has been reported effective on traumatic brain injury (TBI) in rats. However, its cerebral protection mechanism has not been clarified at the metabolic level. This work aims to explore the global metabolic characteristics of XFZY in rats during the acute phase of TBI on days 1 and 3. A plasma metabolomics method based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry coupled with univariate analysis and multivariate statistical analysis was performed in three groups (Sham, Vehicle, XFZY). Then, a pathway analysis using MetaboAnalyst 3.0 was performed to illustrate the pathways of therapeutic action of XFZY in TBI. XFZY treatment attenuates neurological dysfunction and cortical lesion volume post-injury on day 3, and reverses the plasma metabolite abnormalities (glutamic acid, lactic acid, 3-hydroxybutyric acid, and ribitol, etc.). These differential metabolites are mainly involved in D-glutamine and D-glutamate metabolism, alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, and inositol phosphate metabolism. Our study reveals potential biomarkers and metabolic networks of acute TBI and neuroprotection effects of XFZY, and shows this metabolomics approach with MetaboAnalyst would be a feasible way to systematically study therapeutic effects of XFZY on TBI.