Abstract
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a polypeptide that plays a pivotal role in angiogenesis. It also increases vascular permeability and might exacerbate ischemic brain edema. We investigated the effect of this factor on the brain after transient ischemia. After transient middle cerebral artery occlusion, VEGF was applied to the reperfused rat brain. A significant reduction of infarct volume was found in animals with VEGF application, and brain edema was significantly reduced in those animals. Extravasation of Evans blue was also decreased in those animals. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin in situ nick end labeling (TUNEL) and immunohistochemical analysis for 70-kDa heat shock protein (HSP70) showed an amelioration of the staining with VEGF treatment, which indicated reduced neuronal damage. These results indicate that treatment with topical VEGF application reduces ischemic brain damage.
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