Neuroprotection of Cilostazol against ischemia/reperfusion-induced cognitive deficits through inhibiting JNK3/caspase-3 by enhancing Akt1

Cilostazol(CTL) is a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, which has been widely used as anti-platelet agent. It also has preventive effects on various central nervous system (CNS) diseases, including ischemic stroke, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer disease. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the protective effects of CTL is still unclear, and whether CTL can prevent I/R induced cognitive deficit has not been reported. Transient global brain ischemia was induced by 4-vessel occlusion in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. The open field tasks and Morris water maze were used to assess the effect of CTL on anxiety-like behavioral and cognitive impairment after I/R. Western blotting were performed to examine the expression of related proteins, and HE-staining was used to detect the percentage of neuronal death in the hippocampal CA1 region. Here we found that CTL significantly improved cognitive deficits and the behavior of rats in Morris water maze and open field tasks (P