Prolonged Fasting Could Mitigate Cerebral Ischemic Injury Via Repairing Endothelial Progenitor Cells In Mice

Background and Objective: Prolonged fasting is a kind of food deprivation lasting 48-120 hours.Previous evidence indicates that the physiological changes caused by prolonged fasting are much more pronounced than those caused by calorie restriction or fasting lasting 24 hours.Fasting is neuroprotective across a range of insults.This study sought to explore the effect of prolonged fasting on the EPC functions in mice.Methods: Mice were subjected to permanent left middle cerebral artery occlusion,After treatment with prolonged fasting for 48 hours and ad libitum diet for 24 hours,the infarct volumes,cortical atrophy 28 days after cerebral ischemia,angiogenesis and neurobehavioral outcomes were determined.In addition,the functions,e NOS,Mn SOD,and thrombospondin-2(TSP-2)expression of EPCs were examined.Results: After treatment with prolonged fasting for 48 hours and ad libitum diet for 24 hours,the cerebral ischemic injury(both infarct volumes and neurobehavioral outcomes)was significantly mitigated,angiogenesis in ischemic brain was increased,and EPC functions were repaired in mice compared to control.In addition,e NOS and Mn SOD expression were raised,and thrombospondin-2 expression levels were reduced compared with control.Conclusions: Prolonged fasting mitigated cerebral ischemic injury(both infarct volumes and neurobehavioral outcomes)in mice,which might be party attributed to repairment of EPCs and increase of angiogenesis in ischemic brain.It is implied that prolonged fasting might be a potential therapeutic approach to ischemic stroke.