calpain and ethyl-pyruvate

Ethyl pyruvate (EP) is protective in experimental models of many illnesses. This study investigates whether EP can protect against neonatal hypoxic-ischemic (H-I) brain injury. Pre-treatment with EP significantly reduced brain damage at 7 days post-H-I, with 50 mg/kg EP achieving over 50% recovery in tissue loss compared to vehicle-treated animals. Delayed treatment with EP until 30 min after H-I was still neuroprotective. EP-afforded brain protection, together with neurological function improvement, was observed up to 2 months after H-I. We further demonstrated an inhibitory effect of EP on cell death, both in an in vivo model of H-I and in in vitro neuronal cultures subjected to OGD, by reducing calpain activation and calcium dysregulation. Moreover, EP exerted an anti-inflammatory effect in microglia by inhibiting NF-kappaB activation and subsequent release of inflammatory mediators. Taken together, our results suggest that EP confers potent neuroprotection against neonatal H-I brain injury via its anti-cell death and anti-inflammatory actions. EP is a potential novel therapeutic agent for neonatal H-I brain injury.

Topics: Animals; Animals, Newborn; Asphyxia Neonatorum; Brain; Calcium Signaling; Calpain; Cell Death; Cytoprotection; Disease Models, Animal; Encephalitis; Humans; Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain; Infant, Newborn; Inflammation Mediators; Microglia; Nerve Degeneration; Neurons; Neuroprotective Agents; NF-kappa B; Pyruvates; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Signal Transduction; Treatment Outcome