Abstract
Ischemic cerebrovascular disease (stroke) is one of the leading causes of death and long‐term disability worldwide (or developing countries). The purpose of this study is to investigate the therapeutic potential of N‐acetyl cysteine (NAC), a precursor of glutathione, and a potent antioxidant, in tissue protection against transient focal cerebral ischemia model in rats. Our laboratory has already demonstrated the efficacy of NAC against induction of proinflammatory cytokines, iNOS, and production of NO in cultured cells. In this study, 250–300 g male Sprague–Dawley rats were subjected to 45 min of reversible focal cerebral ischemia through middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion. The protective effect of NAC is supported by reduced infarct volume as well as the suppression of TNF‐α and iNOS in the treated animals. Pretreatment with NAC reduced the infarct size by 49.6% as compared to the saline treated group along with reducing the neurological evaluation score by more than 50%. Our results suggest that preadministration of NAC attenuates focal cerebral ischemia by protecting cells against free radical damage.Acknowledgements: Supported by NIH grants NS‐40144, NS‐40810, NS‐22576, NS‐34741 and NS‐37766.
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