Salvianolic Acid B Ameliorates Cerebral Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury Through Inhibiting TLR4/MyD88 Signaling Pathway

Ischemic stroke can activate multiple transcription factors and cause inflammatory reactions, which involve pattern recognition receptors with immunostimulatory effects. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is one of the receptors related to innate immunity and several inflammatory reactions. The promising anti- inflammatory activity of salvianolic acid B (SAB) had been previously reported, but its effect on ischemic stroke remains unknown. An oxygen-glucose deprivation and reoxygenation (OGD/R) model in vitro and a middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model in vivo were used in this paper, and the results showned that SAB remarkably increased the viabilities of PC12 cells and primary cortical neurons after OGD/R injury and notably prevented cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. SAB also significantly ameliorated NeuN release from primary cortical neurons. Further research indicated that the neuroprotection of SAB was completed through inhibiting the TLR4/MyD88/TRAF6 signaling pathway. The blocking of TLR4 by SAB also restrained NF-kB transcriptional activity and pro-inflammatory cytokine responses (IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α). These findings supply a new insight that will aid in clarifying the effect of SAB against cerebral I/R injury and provide the development of SAB as a potential candidate for treating ischemic stroke.