Simvastatin reduces lipopolysaccharides-accelerated cerebral ischemic injury via inhibition of nuclear factor-kappa B activity

Angela M.A.Anthony Jalin, Jae Chul Lee, Geum Sil Cho, Chunsook Kim, Chung Ju, Kisoo Pahk, Hwa Young Song, Won Ki Kim

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    11 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Preceding infection or inflammation such as bacterial meningitis has been associated with poor outcomes after stroke. Previously, we reported that intracorpus callosum microinjection of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) strongly accelerated the ischemia/reperfusionevoked brain tissue damage via recruiting inflammatory cells into the ischemic lesion. Simvastatin, 3-hydroxy-3-methylgultaryl (HMG)-CoA reductase inhibitor, has been shown to reduce inflammatory responses in vascular diseases. Thus, we investigated whether simvastatin could reduce the LPS-accelerated ischemic injury. Simvastatin (20 mg/kg) was orally administered to rats prior to cerebral ischemic insults (4 times at 72, 48, 25, and 1-h pre-ischemia). LPS was microinjected into rat corpus callosum 1 day before the ischemic injury. Treatment of simvastatin reduced the LPS-accelerated infarct size by 73%, and decreased the ischemia/reperfusion-induced expressions of pro-inflammatory mediators such as iNOS, COX-2 and IL-1β in LPS-injected rat brains. However, simvastatin did not reduce the infiltration of microglial/macrophageal cells into the LPS-pretreated brain lesion. In vitro migration assay also showed that simvastatin did not inhibit the monocyte chemoattractant protein-1-evoked migration of microglial/macrophageal cells. Instead, simvastatin inhibited the nuclear translocation of NF-κB, a key signaling event in expressions of various proinflammatory mediators, by decreasing the degradation of IκB. The present results indicate that simvastatin may be beneficial particularly to the accelerated cerebral ischemic injury under inflammatory or infectious conditions.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)531-538
    Number of pages8
    JournalBiomolecules and Therapeutics
    Volume23
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2015 Nov

    Bibliographical note

    Publisher Copyright:
    � 2015 The Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology.

    Keywords

    • Cerebral stroke
    • Cytokine
    • Inflammation
    • Macrophages
    • Microglia
    • Simvastatin

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Biochemistry
    • Molecular Medicine
    • Pharmacology
    • Drug Discovery

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