n-oleoylethanolamine and Stroke

Our previous study has revealed that OEA promotes motor function recovery in the chronic stage of ischemic stroke. However, the neuroprotective mechanism of OEA on motor function recovery after stroke still is unexplored. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the effects of OEA treatment on angiogenesis, neurogenesis, and white matter repair in the peri-infarct region after cerebral ischemia.. The adult male rats were subjected to 2 h of middle cerebral artery occlusion. The rats were treated with 10 and 30 mg/kg OEA or vehicle daily starting from day 2 after ischemia induction until they were sacrificed.. The results revealed that OEA increased cortical angiogenesis, neural progenitor cells (NPCs) proliferation, migration, and differentiation. OEA treatment enhanced the survival of newborn neurons and oligodendrogenesis, which eventually repaired the cortical neuronal injury and improved motor function after ischemic stroke. Meanwhile, OEA treatment promoted the differentiation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) and oligodendrogenesis by activating the PPARα signaling pathway. Our results showed that OEA restores motor function by facilitating cortical angiogenesis, neurogenesis, and white matter repair in rats after ischemic stroke. Therefore, we demonstrate that OEA facilitates functional recovery after ischemic stroke and propose the hypothesis that the long-term application of OEA mitigates the disability after stroke.

Topics: Animals; Brain Ischemia; Cell Differentiation; Ischemic Stroke; Male; Neurogenesis; Oligodendroglia; PPAR alpha; Rats; Stroke; White Matter

Causing more and more deaths, stroke has been a leading cause of death worldwide. However, success in clinical stroke trials has remained elusive. N-oleoylethanolamine (OEA) was an endogenous highly hydrophobic molecule with outstanding neuroprotective effect. In this article, hydrogen bonds were successfully formed between OEA and soybean phosphatidylcholine (SPC). The synthetic OEA-SPC complex and DSPE-PEG were self-assembled into liposomes (OEA NPs), with OEA-SPC loaded in the core and PEG formed a hydrophilic shell. Hence, highly hydrophobic OEA was loaded into liposomes as amorphous state with a drug loading of 8.21 ± 0.18 wt%. With fairly uniform size and well-distributed character, the OEA NPs were systemically assessed as an intravenous formulation for stroke therapy. The results indicated that the administration of OEA NPs could significantly improve the survival rate and the Garcia score of the MCAO rats compared with free OEA. The TTC-stained brain slices declared that the cerebral infarct volume and the edema degree induced by MCAO could be decreased to an extremely low level

Topics: Animals; Chemistry, Pharmaceutical; Disease Models, Animal; Drug Carriers; Drug Liberation; Endocannabinoids; Ethanolamines; Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; Liposomes; Male; Oleic Acids; Phosphatidylcholines; Phosphatidylethanolamines; Polyethylene Glycols; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Stroke

Although the preparation of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) achieves great success, their retention of highly hydrophobic drugs is still problematic.. Herein, we report a novel strategy for efficiently loading hydrophobic drugs to LNPs for stroke therapy. Oleoylethanolamide (OEA), an endogenous highly hydrophobic molecule with outstanding neuroprotective effect, was successfully loaded to OEA-SPC&DSPE-PEG lipid nanoparticles (OSDP LNPs) with a drug loading of 15.9 ± 1.2 wt%. Efficient retention in OSDP LNPs greatly improved the pharmaceutical property and enhanced the neuroprotective effect of OEA.. Through the data of positron emission tomography (PET) and TTC-stained brain slices, it could be clearly visualized that the acute ischemic brain tissues were preserved as penumbral tissues and bounced back with reperfusion. The in vivo experiments stated that OSDP LNPs could significantly improve the survival rate, the behavioral score, the cerebral infarct volume, the edema degree, the spatial learning and memory ability of the MCAO (middle cerebral artery occlusion) rats.. These results suggest that the OSDP LNPs have a great chance to develop hydrophobic OEA into a potential anti-stroke formulation.

Topics: Animals; Endocannabinoids; Liposomes; Nanoparticles; Oleic Acids; Rats; Stroke

Leading to more and more deaths and disabilities, stroke has become a serious threat to human health. What's more, few effective drugs are available in clinic till now.. In this research, we prepared a novel neuroprotective nanoformation (OEA-SPC NPs) via the combination of the nanoparticle drug delivery system with the endogenous N-oleoylethanolamine (OEA). By forming hydrogen bond between OEA and the carrier-soybean phosphatidylcholine (SPC), the form of OEA was turned into amorphus state when loading to the nanoparticles, which greatly improved its bioavailability. Then the following systematic experiments revealed the efficient neuroprotective effect of OEA-SPC NPs in vivo. Compared with the MCAO group, the cerebral infarct volume was reduced by 81.1%, and the edema degree by 78.4% via the oral administration of OEA-SPC NPs. And the neurological deficit scores illustrated that the MCAO rats treated with OEA-SPC NPs exhibited significantly less neurological dysfunction. The Morris water maze test indicated that the spatial learning and memory of cerebral ischemia model rats were almost recovered to the normal level. Besides, the OEA-SPC NPs could inhibit the inflammation of reperfusion to a very slight level.. These results suggest that the OEA-SPC NPs have a great chance to be a potential anti-stroke formation for clinic application and actually bring hope to thousands of stroke patients.

Topics: Animals; Cannabinoid Receptor Agonists; Drug Carriers; Drug Delivery Systems; Endocannabinoids; Ethanolamines; Humans; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Nanoparticles; Oleic Acids; Phosphatidylcholines; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Stroke

Excitotoxic insults such as stroke may induce release of fatty acid ethanolamides (FAEs), contributing to the downstream events in the ischemic cascade. We therefore studied release of FAEs such as anandamide, palmitylethanolamide (PEA), and oleylethanolamide (OEA) in the brain of a patient suffering from malignant hemispheric infarction treated with hypothermia.. A patient with life-threatening hemispheric stroke was treated with moderate hypothermia (33 degrees C) that was maintained for 3 days, followed by a 3-day rewarming period. Microdialysis was applied to measure glutamate, lactate, and glycerol by using a microdialysis analyzer. FAEs were measured by microdialysis coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Release of neuroprotective fatty amides occurred within the first day after ischemia and reached high concentrations for all 3 substances in tissue surrounding the primary ischemic lesion: anandamide up to 42 pmol/mL, PEA up to 120 pmol/mL, and OEA up to 242 pmol/mL. There was a significant correlation with elevation of lactate as early marker for the hypoxic insult.. This is the first report demonstrating release of FAEs in vivo during human stroke and may suggest contribution of the FAE signaling system to the pathophysiological events after ischemia.

Topics: Aged; Amides; Arachidonic Acids; Brain; Brain Chemistry; Brain Ischemia; Endocannabinoids; Ethanolamines; Extracellular Space; Glutamic Acid; Glycerol; Hemiplegia; Humans; Hypothermia, Induced; Lactic Acid; Male; Microdialysis; Monitoring, Physiologic; Oleic Acid; Oleic Acids; Palmitic Acids; Polyunsaturated Alkamides; Sleep Stages; Stroke