Combination of total Astragalus extract and total Panax notoginseng saponins strengthened the protective effects on brain damage through improving energy metabolism and inhibiting apoptosis after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion in mice

To explore the effects and molecular mechanisms of the combination between total Astragalus extract (TAE) and total Panax notoginseng saponins (TPNS) against cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into sham-operated group, model group, TAE (110 mg/kg) group, TPNS (115 mg/kg) group, TAE-TPNS combination group and Edaravone (4 mg/kg) group, treated for 4 days, then, cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury was established by bilateral common carotid artery (CCA) ligation for 20 min followed by reperfusion for 1 and 24 h.TPNS could increase adenosine triphosphate (ATP) level, TAE and TAE-TPNS combination increased ATP, adenosine diphosphate (ADP) contents and NaThe combination of TAE 110 mg/kg and TPNS 115 mg/kg could strengthen protective effects on cerebral ischemia injury, the mechanism underlying might be related to improving jointly the early energy metabolism, and relieving the delayed apoptosis via inhibiting the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway of JNK signal transduction.