Abstract: Objective To explore initially the roles of the 3 major signaling pathways of mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPK) in cerebral ischemia preconditioning. Methods Healthy adult SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: normal control group; sham-operated group and ischemic preconditioning or ischemic tolerance group (n=6). SDS-PAGE, Western blot and Gel Doc imagine systems were applied to determine the phosphorylation and protein expression of ERK, JNK and p38 in somatosensory cortex of rat. Results The phosphorylation level of ERK1 and JNK46KD in somatosensory cortex increased significantly (P<0.05) after ischemia preconditioning. Conclusion The increased ERK1 and JNK46KD phosphorylation in somatosensory cortex may be involved in the development of cerebral ischemia preconditioning and can not be ruled out in which the role of p38.

Key words: cerebral ischemic preconditioning, mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPK), phosphorylation, protein expression