Abstract:

Brain cell death after intracerebral hemorrhage may be mediated in part by an apoptotic mechanism. Colostrum is the first milk produced by mammals for their young. It plays an important role in pro-tection and development by providing various antibodies, growth factors and nutrients, and has been used for various diseases in many countries. In the present study, we investigated the an-ti-apoptotic effects of bovine colostrum using organotypic hippocampal slice cultures and an intracerebral hemorrhage animal model. We performed densitometric measurements of propidium iodide uptake, a step-down avoidance task, Nissl staining, and caspase-3 immunohistochemistry. The present results revealed that colostrum treatment significantly suppressed N-methyl-D-aspartic acid-induced neuronal cell death in the rat hippocampus. Moreover, colostrum treatment improved short-term memory by suppressing hemorrhage-induced apoptotic neuronal cell death and de-creasing the volume of the lesion induced by intracerebral hemorrhage in the rat hippocampus. These results suggest that colostrum may have a beneficial role in recovering brain function fol-lowing hemorrhagic stroke by suppressing apoptotic cell death.

Key words: intracerebral hemorrhage, organotypic hippocampal slice culture, bovine colostrum, apoptotic cell death, N-methyl-D-aspartic acid, caspase-3, hippocampus, memory