Study On Neuroprotection Of Nerve Growth Factor Carried By Pseudo Lentivirus Of Post-Ischemia In Rats

Ischemic stroke,the most common form of stroke cases,clinically manifested by transient or permanent brain dysfunction.As the first identified and best characterized member of the neurotrophin family,Nerve Growth Factor(NGF)has been reported to protectbrain function in animal brain injury models.To investigate a more effective therapy for ischemic stroke,we microinjected the pseudo lentivirus-delivered ?-NGF gene into the striatum of an established ischemic stroke model of rat,estimating cell apoptosisand neurogenesis in both ischemic core and penumbra of striatum after post-ischemia.To investigate the efficiency of pseudo lentivirus-delivered NGF gene in the brain after post-ischemia,we choosed sham and lentivirus-delivered GFP as controls for NGF transfected group.After microinjection of pseudo lentivirus-delivered ?-NGF gene into the striatum in an established ischemic stroke model of rat for 3weeks,we estimated neuronal cell apoptosis with TUNEL labeling and neurogenesis by cell proliferation marker Ki67 staining in both ischemic core and penumbra of striatum.We found that the ?-NGF overexpression in thestriatal infarction core after ischemia can improved neuronal survival by reducing cell apoptosis and increasing cell proliferation after ischemia.In addition,we found the cognitive function was significantly improved after ?-NGF overexpression compared with the sham and GFP-transfected group through Morris Water Maze performance.Furthermore,we illustrated that the expression of synaptic growth associated protein GAP-43 was upregulated dramaticaly in ?-NGF overexpression group,which can partially explain the mechanism of cognitive function recovery.Overall,this study demonstrates a potential ?-NGF gene therapy by utilization of pseudo lentivirus in ischemia,and indicates future applications of NGF gene treatment in ischemic patients...