Neuroprotective effect of pharmacological postconditioning on cerebral ischaemia–reperfusion‐induced injury in mice

Objectives To investigate the mechanism of neuroprotection rendered via pharmacological postconditioning in cerebral ischaemia–reperfusion‐induced injury in mice. Methods Pharmacological postconditioning is strategy which either involves hindering deleterious pathway or inducing modest stress level which triggers intracellular defence pathway to sustain more vigorous insult leading to conditioning. Hence, in current research we explored the potentiality of CGS 21680 (0.5 mg/kg; i.p), an adenosine A 2 A receptor agonist and PTEN inhibitor, SF 1670 (3 mg/kg; i.p.) to trigger postconditioning after inducing cerebral global ischaemia (17 min) and reperfusion (24 h)‐induced injury via occlusion of both carotid arteries. Mice were also given treatment with LY 294002 (1.5 mg/kg; i.p.), a PI 3K inhibitor and adenosine A 2 A receptor antagonist, Istradefylline (2 mg/kg; i.p.), to establish the precise mechanism of postconditioning. Various biochemical and behavioural parameters were assessed to examine the effect of pharmacological postconditioning. Key Findings Pharmacological postconditioning induced with CGS 21680 and SF 1670 attenuated the infarction along with improved behavioural and biochemical parameters in comparison with ischaemia–reperfusion control group. The outcome of postconditioning with CGS 21680 and SF 1670 was significantly reversed by LY 294002 and Istradefylline, respectively. Conclusions The neuroprotective effects of CGS 21680 and SF 1670 postconditioning on cerebral ischaemia–reperfusion injury may be due to PI 3K/Akt pathway activation.