Asian Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Mongolian Herbal Medicine Garidi-13 Upregulates Igf2 Expression in Cerebral Cortex and Attenuates Neuronal Damage in MCAO Rat Model

Lu Chen, Saren Gaowa, Qiburi Qiburi, Meng He, Tsogzolmaa Ganbold, Mingming Bao, Qingming Bao, Man Da, Temuqile Temuqile, Huricha Baigude

¹ Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Mongolian Medicinal Chemistry, School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, P.R.China

² Inner Mongolia International Mongolian Hospital, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, P.R.China

Abstract

Garidi-13 (GRD-13) is one of the most important Mongolian medicines with long history of clinical application in Inner Mongolia of China as well as the Republic of Mongolia [1-3]. Clinical application demonstrated that GRD-13 has remarkably high neuroprotective effect in stroke patients [4]. However, the mechanism of action of GRD-13 is unknown. Herein, we show that rat MCAO model treated with GRD-13 showed significantly improved neurorecovery compared to the non-treated control animals, demonstrated by reduced stroke lesion area and edema, higher neuron survival rate as well as reduced neurological impairment assessed by Bederson scaling. Analysis of transcriptome further elucidated that the mechanism of action of GRD-13 possibly mediated by up-regulating the expression of Igf2 gene in the ischemic area of MCAO model rats. These findings would provide theoretical guidance for the further development of GRD-13 and related Mongolian medicines.

Keywords:

Mongolian medicine, Garidi-13, ischemic stroke, MCAO model, gene regulation, RNA-seq, Insulin-like growth factor 2