Investigation and comparison of the protective activities of three functional proteins-lactoferrin, α-lactalbumin, and β-lactoglobulin-in cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury

摘要

The objective of this study was to evaluate the protectionconferred by lactoferrin, α-lactalbumin, andβ-lactoglobulin in cerebral ischemia reperfusion (I/R)injury. Rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells were usedto construct an oxygen and glucose deprivation model invitro, and ICR mice underwent carotid artery “ligationrelaxation”to construct a cerebral I/R injury modelin vivo. The levels of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) anddownstream factors including nuclear factor-κB, tumornecrosis factor-α, and IL-1β were measured. Metabonomicsdetection and data mining were conducted toidentify the specific metabolic sponsor of the 3 proteins.The results showed that lactoferrin, α-lactalbumin,and β-lactoglobulin protected neurons from cerebralI/R injury by increasing the level of bopindolol andsubsequently inhibiting the TLR4-related pathway todifferent degrees; β-lactoglobulin had the strongest activityof the 3 proteins. In summary, this study is thefirst to investigate and compare the protective effectsof lactoferrin, α-lactalbumin, and β-lactoglobulin in acerebral stroke model. The results implicate TLR4 asa novel target of the 3 bioactive proteins to preventcerebral I/R injury.