HomeDiseaseCurcumin targets vascular endothelial growth factor via activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and improves brain hypoxic-ischemic injury in neonatal rats

Curcumin targets vascular endothelial growth factor via activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and improves brain hypoxic-ischemic injury in neonatal rats

December 11, 2021

Korean J Physiol Pharmacol. 2020 Sep 1;24(5):423-431. doi: 10.4196/kjpp.2020.24.5.423.

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of curcumin on brain hypoxicischemic (HI) damage in neonatal rats and whether the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt/vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling pathway is involved. Brain HI damage models were established in neonatal rats, which received the following treatments: curcumin by intraperitoneal injection before injury, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) by subcutaneous injection after injury, and VEGF by intracerebroventricular injection after injury. This was followed by neurological evaluation, hemodynamic measurements, histopathological assessment, TUNEL assay, flow cytometry, and western blotting to assess the expression of p-PI3K, PI3K, p-Akt, Akt, and VEGF. Compared with rats that underwent sham operation, rats with brain HI damage showed remarkably increased neurological deficits, reduced right blood flow volume, elevated blood viscosity and haematocrit, and aggravated cell damage and apoptosis; these injuries were significantly improved by curcumin pretreatment. Meanwhile, brain HI damage induced the overexpression of p-PI3K, p-Akt, and VEGF, while curcumin pretreatment inhibited the expression of these proteins. In addition, IGF-1 treatment rescued the curcumin-induced down-regulated expression of p- PI3K, p-Akt, and VEGF, and VEGF overexpression counteracted the inhibitory effect of curcumin on brain HI damage. Overall, pretreatment with curcumin protected against brain HI damage by targeting VEGF via the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in neonatal rats.

PMID:32830149 | PMC:PMC7445479 | DOI:10.4196/kjpp.2020.24.5.423

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About The Author

Patrick Blanchard MD

Meet Dr. Blanchard Dr. Blanchard’s medical practice is an embodiment of Integrative health which brings conventional and complementary approaches together in a coordinated way. Conveniently located in sunny Florida and over the internet with ValiseMD’s secure HIPPA compliant telXmed servers. Since 1994, patients with a wide range of challenging medical problems have achieved optimum health using the best of natural medicine, judiciously combined with high-tech innovations. Breakthroughs are often achieved even after patients have consulted mainstream specialists and holistic practitioners. Dr. Blanchard is founder and CEO of ValiseMD, Inc. He is board certified in Family Medicine since 1994 and awarded Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians in 2001. He received the ‘Teacher of the Year’ award from the University of Kansas School of Medicine at completion of his residency in Family Medicine. He completed a fellowship at Wake Forest University in the field of vascular neurosonology. He holds a medical patent in the field of Gastroenterology. He holds an unrestricted license to practice medicine and surgery in Florida. He started his medical career as a Emergency Medical Technician, then as a Paramedic and later a Medical Doctor.