NAD+ administration can profoundly decrease the brain injury induced by hypoxia‐ischemia

Our lab has found that NAD+ treatment can markedly decrease oxidative stress‐induced cell death, and NAD+ administration can profoundly reduce the brain injury in a rat MCAO model of transient focal ischemia. The goal of this study is to test our hypothesis that NAD+ administration can also decrease the brain injury in a neonatal mouse model of hypoxia‐ischemia (H/I). We found that permanent ischemia plus 90‐min hypoxia led to significant infarct formation of the mice as assessed by TTC staining. Administration of NAD+ led to profound decreases in infarct size, assessed at either 24 or 72 hrs after H/I. Moreover, NAD+ administration can also significantly attenuate the H/I‐induced neurological deficits of the animals. In summary, our study has provided first evidence indicating that NAD+ can profoundly decrease the H/I ‐induced brain injury, suggesting great promise of NAD+ for treating both permanent and transient cerebral ischemia (Supported by a Key Research Grant of Shanghai Municipal Scientific Committee 08JC1415400, Pujiang Scholar Program Grant, Shanghai Med‐X Engineering Center Grant of Equipment and Technology of Physical Therapy for Major Diseases, and by a 973 Grant 2010CB834306).