Neuroprotective and Anti-inflammatory Effect of Tangeretin Against Cerebral Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury in Rats

The neuro-inflammation is well known to be an inflammatory response in the brain tissue. Anti-inflammatory therapy in ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) pathogenesis is a potential therapeutic strategy for post-I/R injury. Currently, we made attempt to scrutinize the neuro-protective effect of tangeretin against I/R injury in the brain of experimental rats. I/R injury is induced in the brain via transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (2 h) and reperfusion (20 h). The infarction area, brain water content and neurofunctional parameters were also estimated. Inflammatory cytokines and brain injury markers were scrutinized at the end of the study. mRNA expression of interleukin 6 (IL-6), toll-like receptor-4 (TLR-4), interleukin 1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interferon-γ (IFNG-γ), and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) was estimated using the qRT-PCR. Tangeretin significantly (P < 0.001) decreased brain water content, infarct volume, neurological score, brain edema, and Evans blue leakage. Tangeretin significantly (P < 0.001) down-regulated the inflammatory and pro-inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress parameters in the serum and brain tissue of experimental rats. qRT-PCR data demonstrated that rats treated with tangeretin could significantly (P < 0.001) suppress the IL-1β, TLR-4 TNF-α, IFNG-γ, and IL-6 and boost the expression of TGF-β1 compared with I/R injury rats. The result clearly showed tangeretin neuro-protective and anti-inflammatory effect against I/R injury in rats through suppressed inflammatory reaction.