OBJECTIVES : To demonstrate that pharmacological postconditioning with PCA has a protective effect on cerebral IR injury.

METHODS: Pharmacological postconditioning (pPoCo) is a neuroprotective strategy, aiming at mitigating IR injury, which represents ideal alternatives that may substitute the short ischemic insults of ischemic postconditioning for pharmaceuticals means. Protocatechuic acid (PCA), a dihydroxybenzoic acid, is a type of polyphenolic acid having antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. In this study, we have investigated the effects of protocatechuic acid pharmacological postconditioning on cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) in mice brain. Bilateral carotid artery occlusion of 17 min followed by reperfusion for 24 h has been employed in the study to produce ischemia and reperfusion induced cerebral injury in mice. For the reperfusion intervention using pharmacological agent (i.e. pPoCo), the drug was administered before reperfusion i.e. immediately after the bilateral carotid artery occlusion performed for 17 min.

RESULTS: Infarct size was detected by triphenytetrazolium chloride staining. Memory was evaluated using morris water maze test, elevated plus-maze test and acetylcholinesterase activity. Oxidative stress in terms of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), glutathione level, and superoxide dismutase and catalase activity was also estimated. Rotarod test and inclined beam test was employed to assess motor in co-ordination. Bilateral carotid artery occlusion followed by reperfusion produced cerebral infarction, impaired memory, motor co-ordination and as well as altered biochemicals oxidative stress.

CONCLUSIONS: It may be concluded that PCA induced pharmacological postconditioning exerts neuroprotective effects, possibly mediated through the Nuclear Factor Erythroid 2-Related Factor Pathway.