Figure 1.

NBP treatment ameliorates neurological deficits and brain infarction after cerebral ischemia and reperfusion. (A) Experimental scheme to assess the impact of NBP on neurological function and infarct volume in mice subjected to 60-min MCAO. NBP (60 mg/kg) or vehicle (oil) were given immediately after reperfusion by oral gavage (i.g.) and repeated daily for three consecutive days. Neurological deficits were evaluated with the modified neurological severity score (mNSS) and corner turning test. Infarct volume was quantified on days 1 and 3 using 7T MRI combined with TTC staining. (B) Summarized results showing the mNSS scores and corner turning test results of MCAO mice receiving NBP or vehicle at the indicated times after reperfusion. The data are expressed as the mean ± SEM. n = 10 per group. *P < 0.05, two-way ANOVA. (C) Infarct volume was quantified with MRI (T2WI) on days 1 and 3 after ischemia. The images show the infarct areas (yellow dashed line). n = 5 mice per group. *P < 0.05, two-tailed unpaired Student’s t test. (D) TTC-stained brain slices showing the infarct areas (blue dashed lines) of mice receiving NBP or vehicle at the indicated times after reperfusion. n = 10 mice per group. *P < 0.05, two-tailed unpaired Student’s t test. The data are representative of three independent experiments. Mean ± SEM