Chrysophanol attenuates nitrosative/oxidative stress injury in a mouse model of focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion

Nitrosative/oxidative stress plays an important role in neuronal death following cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). Chrysophanol (CHR) has been shown to afford significant neuroprotection on ischemic stroke, however, whether its mechanism is related to attenuating nitrosative/oxidative stress is not clear. In the present study, we investigated the effect of CHR on neuronal injury related to nitric oxide (NO) production by using mouse middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model. Our results revealed that nitrite plus nitrate (NOx−) and 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT) levels increased in ischemic brain 14 days after reperfusion, and were subsequently attenuated by CHR treatment. Moreover, 3-NT is colocalized with NeuN and TUNEL, suggesting that neuronal apoptosis following I/R is associated with 3-NT and CHR suppresses NO-associated neuronal cell death. Accordingly, cleaved caspase-3 expression in ischemic brain was decreased by CHR treatment. I/R also decreased the activity of total superoxide dismutase (SOD) and manganese-dependent SOD (MnSOD), whilst increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production significantly. Interestingly, CHR reversed this decrease in total SOD, and MnSOD activity, and inhibited ROS generation in the ischemic brain. Taken together, our results provide direct evidence suggesting that CHR attenuates nitrosative/oxidative stress injury induced by I/R, providing a novel therapeutic target in the treatment of acute ischemic stroke.