（＋）-Borneol is neuroprotective against permanent cerebral ischemia in rats by suppressing production of proinflammatory cytokines

摘要

Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability and death globally.It occurs when a major artery is occluded in the brain and leads to death of cells within the injured tissue.(+)-Borneol,a simple bicyclic monoterpene extracted from traditional Chinese medicine,is widely used in various types of diseases.However,no study has proved the effects of(+)-borneol on functional recovery from permanent ischemic stroke and the mechanism is still unknown.Here,we report that in the rat model of permanent cerebral ischemia,we found that(+)-borneol(1.0 mg/kg) significantly ameliorated infarct size and neurological scores via reducing the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase(iNOS)and tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-α) in a dose dependent manner.Notably,(+)-borneol showed long-term effects on the improvement of sensorimotor functions in the photothrombotic model of stroke,which decreased the number of foot faults in the grid-walking task and forelimb asymmetry scores in the cylinder task,at least in part through reducing loss of dendritic spines in the length,brunch number and density.These findings suggest that(+)-borneol could serve as a therapeutic target for ischemic stroke.