Abstract
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) can lead to brain damage and even death, and there is lack of effective therapeutic methods for treating ICH. Although recent studies have focused on the administration of metformin in treating stroke, there is no literature to support whether it can be used to treat ICH. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the possible effects of metformin on ICH and the underlying mechanisms of those effects. An ICH model was established in adult male Sprague–Dawley rats. Rats were randomly divided into three groups: sham group, ICH group, and ICH+metformin group. The neurobehavioral deficit scoring method was used to examine neurological function in rats. The levels of lipid peroxidation antioxidant enzyme and 8-iso-PGF2α were detected to evaluate oxidative stress. Survival of striatal neurons was examined by TUNEL staining, immunohistochemistry and HE staining. The levels of p-JNK, p-c-Jun and cleaved caspase-3 in the striatum were measured by western blotting. The results demonstrated that metformin protected rats from neurological deficits induced by ICH. Moreover, metformin reduced oxidative stress and preserved the survival of striatal neurons under ICH conditions. Furthermore, metformin downregulated the levels of apoptotic factors (p-JNK3, p-c-Jun and cleaved caspase-3) as well as pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-4 and IL-6 and TNF-α). Collectively, we speculate that metformin may be a potential clinical treatment for ICH patients.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abd-Elsameea AA, Moustaf AA, Mohamed AM (2014) Modulation of the oxidative stress by metformin in the cerebrum of rats exposed to global cerebral ischemia and ischemia/reperfusion. Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci 18(16):2387–2392
Asghari A, Akbari G, Meghdadi A, Mortazavi P (2016) Effects of melatonin and metformin co-administration on testicular ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats. J Pediatr Urol 12:410
Asghari A, Akbari G, Meghdadi A, Mortazavi P (2016) Protective effect of metformin on testicular ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats. Acta Cir Bras 31(6):411–416
Cahova M, Palenickova E, Dankova H, Sticova E, Burian M, Drahota Z, Cervinkova Z, Kucera O, Gladkova C, Stopka P, Krizova J, Papackova Z, Oliyarnyk O, Kazdova L (2015) Metformin prevents ischemia reperfusion-induced oxidative stress in the fatty liver by attenuation of reactive oxygen species formation. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 309(2):G100–G111
Cui GY, Gao XM, Qi SH, Gillani A, Gao L, Shen X, Zhang YD (2011) The action of thrombin in intracerebral hemorrhage induced brain damage is mediated via PKCalpha/PKCdelta signaling. Brain Res 1398:86–93
Davies KJ (1995) Oxidative stress: the paradox of aerobic life. Biochem Soc Symp 61:1–31
de Oliveira Santana KN, Lelis DF, Mendes KL, Lula JF, Paraiso AF, Andrade JM, Feltenberger JD, Cota J, da Costa DV, de Paula AM, Guimaraes AL, Santos SH (2016) Metformin reduces lipogenesis markers in obese mice fed a low-carbohydrate and high-fat diet. Lipids 51(12):1375–1384
Deng T, Zheng YR, Hou WW, Yuan Y, Shen Z, Wu XL, Chen Y, Zhang LS, Hu WW, Chen Z, Zhang XN (2016) Pre-stroke Metformin Treatment is Neuroprotective Involving AMPK Reduction. Neurochem Res 41(10):2719–2727
Dong YS, Wang JL, Feng DY, Qin HZ, Wen H, Yin ZM, Gao GD, Li C (2014) Protective effect of quercetin against oxidative stress and brain edema in an experimental rat model of subarachnoid hemorrhage. Int J Med Sci 11(3):282–290
Du Q, Yu WH, Dong XQ, Yang DB, Shen YF, Wang H, Jiang L, Du YF, Zhang ZY, Zhu Q, Che ZH, Liu QJ (2014) Plasma 8-iso-Prostaglandin F2alpha concentrations and outcomes after acute intracerebral hemorrhage. Clin Chim Acta 437:141–146
Duan ZZ, Zhou XL, Li YH, Zhang F, Li FY, Su-Hua Q (2015) Protection of Momordica charantia polysaccharide against intracerebral hemorrhage-induced brain injury through JNK3 signaling pathway. J Recept Signal Transduct Res 35(6):523–529
Garcia JH, Wagner S, Liu KF, Hu XJ (1995) Neurological deficit and extent of neuronal necrosis attributable to middle cerebral artery occlusion in rats. Statistical validation. Stroke 26(4):627–634 (discussion 635)
Jia J, Cheng J, Ni J, Zhen X (2015) Neuropharmacological actions of metformin in stroke. Curr Neuropharmacol 13(3):389–394
Ke K, Li L, Rui Y, Zheng H, Tan X, Xu W, Cao J, Xu J, Cui G, Xu G, Cao M (2013) Increased expression of small heat shock protein alphaB-crystallin after intracerebral hemorrhage in adult rats. J Mol Neurosci 51(1):159–169
Kobayashi T, Masumoto J, Tada T, Nomiyama T, Hongo K, Nakayama J (2007) Prognostic significance of the immunohistochemical staining of cleaved caspase-3, an activated form of caspase-3, in gliomas. Clin Cancer Res 13(13):3868–3874
Lu H, Shen J, Song X, Ge J, Cai R, Dai A, Jiang Z (2015) Protective effect of pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) in rat model of intracerebral hemorrhage. Cell Mol Neurobiol 35(7):921–930
Ma Q, Chen S, Hu Q, Feng H, Zhang JH, Tang J (2014) NLRP3 inflammasome contributes to inflammation after intracerebral hemorrhage. Ann Neurol 75(2):209–219
Michel-Monigadon D, Bonny C, Hirt L (2010) c-Jun N-terminal kinase pathway inhibition in intracerebral hemorrhage. Cerebrovasc Dis 29(6):564–570
Pei B, Yang M, Qi X, Shen X, Chen X, Zhang F (2016) Quercetin ameliorates ischemia/reperfusion-induced cognitive deficits by inhibiting ASK1/JNK3/caspase-3 by enhancing the Akt signaling pathway. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 478(1):199–205
Ray PD, Huang BW, Tsuji Y (2012) Reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis and redox regulation in cellular signaling. Cell Signal 24(5):981–990
Shah SA, Lee HY, Bressan RA, Yun DJ, Kim MO (2014) Novel osmotin attenuates glutamate-induced synaptic dysfunction and neurodegeneration via the JNK/PI3K/Akt pathway in postnatal rat brain. Cell Death Dis 5:e1026
Steiner T, Al-Shahi Salman R, Beer R, Christensen H, Cordonnier C, Csiba L, Forsting M, Harnof S, Klijn CJ, Krieger D, Mendelow AD, Molina C, Montaner J, Overgaard K, Petersson J, Roine RO, Schmutzhard E, Schwerdtfeger K, Stapf C, Tatlisumak T, Thomas BM, Toni D, Unterberg A, Wagner M, European Stroke Organisation (2014) European Stroke Organisation (ESO) guidelines for the management of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage. Int J Stroke 9(7):840–855
Taylor RA, Chang CF, Goods BA, Hammond MD, Grory BM, Ai Y, Steinschneider AF, Renfroe SC, Askenase MH, McCullough LD, Kasner SE, Mullen MT, Hafler DA, Love JC, Sansing LH (2016) TGF-beta1 modulates microglial phenotype and promotes recovery after intracerebral hemorrhage. J Clin Invest 127:280
Taylor RA, Sansing LH (2013) Microglial responses after ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage. Clin Dev Immunol 2013:746068
Wan S, Zhan R, Zheng S, Hua Y, Xi G (2009) Activation of c-Jun-N-terminal kinase in a rat model of intracerebral hemorrhage: the role of iron. Neurosci Res 63(2):100–105
Wiswedel I (2009) F(2)-isoprostanes: sensitive biomarkers of oxidative stress in vitro and in vivo: a gas chromatography-mass spectrometric approach. Methods Mol Biol 580:3–16
Xi G, Keep RF, Hoff JT (2006) Mechanisms of brain injury after intracerebral haemorrhage. Lancet Neurol 5(1):53–63
Xu L, Li Y, Fu Q, Ma S (2014) Perillaldehyde attenuates cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury-triggered overexpression of inflammatory cytokines via modulating Akt/JNK pathway in the rat brain cortex. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 454(1):65–70
Xu R, Wang S, Li W, Liu Z, Tang J, Tang X (2016) Activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma by a 12/15-lipoxygenase product of arachidonic acid: a possible neuroprotective effect in the brain after experimental intracerebral hemorrhage. J Neurosurg 14:1–10
Yang Y, Chen S, Zhang J (2016) The updated role of oxidative stress in subarachnoid hemorrhage. Curr Drug Deliv [Epub ahead of print]
Yang Z, Yu A, Liu Y, Shen H, Lin C, Lin L, Wang S, Yuan B (2014) Regulatory T cells inhibit microglia activation and protect against inflammatory injury in intracerebral hemorrhage. Int Immunopharmacol 22(2):522–525
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the bureau of Xuzhou city science and technology (KC15SH037).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Qi, B., Hu, L., Zhu, L. et al. Metformin Attenuates Neurological Deficit after Intracerebral Hemorrhage by Inhibiting Apoptosis, Oxidative Stress and Neuroinflammation in Rats. Neurochem Res 42, 2912–2920 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-017-2322-9
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-017-2322-9