Affiliations: Department of Pathophysiology, Medical College of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China | Department of Rehabilitation, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China
Note: [] Corresponding author: Professor Jing Ping Ouyang, Department of Pathophysiology, Medical College of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China. Tel.: +86 27 87331146; E‐mail: ouyangjp@hotmail.com.
Abstract: This experiment was designed to study the therapeutic mechanisms of Angelica on the focal cerebral ischemia injury of the rat. The ischemic area was determined by TTC stain. And terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TDT) mediated DUTP‐biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) method was applied to detect neuronal apoptosis. The expressions of Bcl‐2 and Bax proteins were observed by immunohistochemical staining methods. Results show that the treatment with angelica reduced the volume of cerebral infarction (p<0.05), and that the number of neuronal apoptosis cells decreased significantly (p<0.01). Also the expression level of Bax protein decreased (p<0.01). These results suggest that Angelica can reduce the number of apoptosis cells by decreasing the expression of Bax protein. This is maybe one of the mechanisms of the therapeutic effect of Angelica on focal cerebral ischemia injury.
