Post-treatment of Bax-inhibiting peptide reduces neuronal death and behavioral deficits following global cerebral ischemia

▶ Peptide VPALR reduces Bax activation and mitochondrial translocation. ▶ VPALR reduces cytochrome c release and caspase-3 activation. ▶ VPALR reduces apoptotic neuronal injury in hippocampal CA1. ▶ VPALR improves spatial learning and memory performance. Cerebral ischemia is a major cause of adult disability and death worldwide. Evidence suggests that Bax-dependent initiation and activation of intrinsic apoptotic pathways contribute to ischemic brain injury. We investigated the Bax-inhibiting peptide VPALR, designed from the rat Ku70-Bax inhibiting domain, on the apoptotic neuronal cell death and behavioral deficits following global cerebral ischemia. The pentapeptide was infused into the left lateral ventricle of the rat brain by intracerebroventricular (icv) injection 1 h after cerebral ischemia, and results showed that it highly permeated hippocampal neurons and bound to Bax protein in vivo. Post-treatment with VPALR reduced the delayed neuronal damage by approximately 78% compared to the non-treated ischemic control and scrambled peptide-treated rats. TUNEL analysis revealed that VPALR markedly reduced the ischemia-induced increase in apoptotic neuronal death in rat hippocampal CA1 region. VPALR post-treatment also significantly attenuated Bax activation and its mitochondrial translocation as compared with scrambled peptide-treated animals. Concomitantly, Bax-inhibiting peptide-treated rats showed reduced cytochrome c release from mitochondria to cytosol and reduced caspase-3 activation in response to cerebral ischemia, indicating that activation of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway was reduced. Furthermore, Bax-inhibiting peptide improved spatial learning and memory performance in the Morris water maze, which was seriously affected by global cerebral ischemia. In conclusion, Bax inhibition by cell-permeable pentapeptides reduced apoptotic neuronal injury in the hippocampal CA1 region and behavioral deficits following global ischemia. These results suggest that Bax is a potential target for pharmacological neuroprotection and that Bax-inhibiting peptide may be a promising neuroprotective strategy for cerebral ischemia.