Effects of Sildenafil on Cognitive Function Recovery and Neuronal Cell Death Protection After Transient Global Cerebral Ischemia in Gerbils

Overview

Journal Biomedicines

Specialty Biomedical Engineering

Date 2024 Sep 28

PMID 39335590

Authors

Yeon Hee Yu

Gun Woo Kim

Yu Ran Lee

Dae-Kyoon Park

Beomjong Song

Duk-Soo Kim

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Cerebral ischemic stroke is a major cause of death worldwide due to brain cell death resulting from ischemia-reperfusion injury. However, effective treatment approaches for patients with ischemic stroke are still lacking in clinical practice. This study investigated the potential neuroprotective effects of sildenafil, a phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor, in a gerbil model of global brain ischemia. We investigated the effects of sildenafil on the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein and aquaporin-4, which are markers related to astrocyte activation and water homeostasis, respectively. Immunofluorescence analysis showed that the number of cells co-expressing these markers, which was elevated in the ischemia-induced group, was significantly reduced in the sildenafil-treated groups. This suggests that sildenafil may have a potential mitigating effect on astrocyte activation induced by ischemia. Additionally, we performed various behavioral tests, including the open-field test, novel object recognition, Barnes maze, Y-maze, and passive avoidance tests, to evaluate sildenafil's effect on cognitive function impaired by ischemia. Overall, the results suggest that sildenafil may serve as a neuroprotective agent, potentially alleviating delayed neuronal cell death and improving cognitive function impaired by ischemia.

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