Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2016, Vol. 11 ›› Issue (7): 1128-1133.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.187049

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Apelin-13 as a novel target for intervention in secondary injury after traumatic brain injury

Hai-jun Bao1, #, Hai-yang Qiu1, #, Jin-xia Kuai2, Cheng-jie Song3, Shao-xian Wang1, Chao-qun Wang1, Hua-bin Peng1, Wen-can Han1, Yong-ping Wu1, *   

  1. 1 Department of Pathology, Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China 2 Department of Forensic Medicine, Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China 3 Department of Physiology, Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
  • Online:2016-07-30 Published:2016-07-30
  • Contact: Yong-ping Wu, wuyongping_123@tom.com.
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81302612; the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China, No. 12KJB310018; a grant from the Student Innovation Training Program of China, No. 201410313023Z.

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Abstract:

The adipocytokine, apelin-13, is an abundantly expressed peptide in the nervous system. Apelin-13 protects the brain against ischemia/ reperfusion injury and attenuates traumatic brain injury by suppressing autophagy. However, secondary apelin-13 effects on traumatic brain injury-induced neural cell death and blood-brain barrier integrity are still not clear. Here, we found that apelin-13 significantly decreases cerebral water content, mitigates blood-brain barrier destruction, reduces aquaporin-4 expression, diminishes caspase-3 and Bax expression in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, and reduces apoptosis. These results show that apelin-13 attenuates secondary injury after traumatic brain injury and exerts a neuroprotective effect.

Key words: nerve regeneration, apoptosis, apelin-13, traumatic brain injury, brain edema, blood-brain barrier, brain water content, aquaporin-4, caspase-3, neural regeneration