Curcumin protects against hypertension aggravated retinal ischemia/reperfusion in a rat stroke model.

Abstract

The pathogenesis of visual dysfunction in stroke remains unclear. The objective of this study was to explore retinal damage in stroke spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and evaluate the role of curcumin in the retinal injury after stroke. Mature male SHR were used as the animal model for hypertension and age-matched male Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats as the normotensive controls. The rat model of stroke was made by bilateral vertebral artery electrocoagulation combined with transient bilateral common carotid artery ligation. The animals were randomly divided into sham group, ischemia/reperfusion group, solvent control group, and curcumin treatment group. Each group was subdivided into 2 h, 6 h, 24 h, 72 h, and 7 day after reperfusion. Blood pressure was measured in SHR and WKY rats. Eye fundus was examined in living animals, and then, tissue specimens were collected for histologic examination, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated 2'-deoxyuridine 5'-triphosphate nick end labeling, and immunohistochemistry. Retinopathy, induced by I/R, was more serious in rats with hypertension than that in normotensive rats (retinal thickness index, p = 0.004). The number of apoptosis in retinal capillary cells and neurons reduced significantly in the curcumin-treated groups. Curcumin treatment inhibited phosphorylated c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) expression in SHR after retinal I/R injury. Thus, hypertension aggravated retinal I/R injury after stroke. Curcumin, a specific inhibitor of JNK, can prevent the development of hypertensive retinopathy after I/R injury by inhibiting apoptosis in retinal capillary cells and neurons.

• Authors: Saibin Wang, Qian Ye, Junwei Tu, Mingying Zhang, Bin Ji
• Journal: Clinical and experimental hypertension (New York, N.Y. : 1993) (Clin Exp Hypertens) Vol. 39 Issue 8 Pg. 711-717 ( 2017) ISSN: 1525-6006 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 28678631 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Enzyme Inhibitors
• Protective Agents
• JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases
• Curcumin

Topics

• Animals
• Apoptosis (drug effects)
• Blood Pressure (drug effects)
• Brain Ischemia (complications)
• Capillaries (cytology)
• Curcumin (pharmacology, therapeutic use)
• Disease Models, Animal
• Enzyme Inhibitors (pharmacology, therapeutic use)
• Hypertension (complications)
• Hypertensive Retinopathy (etiology, pathology, prevention & control)
• JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases (antagonists & inhibitors, metabolism)
• Male
• Neurons (physiology)
• Protective Agents (therapeutic use)
• Rats
• Rats, Inbred SHR
• Rats, Inbred WKY
• Reperfusion Injury (etiology, pathology, prevention & control)
• Retina (diagnostic imaging, pathology)
• Stroke (complications)