Abstract: Objective To investigate the effects of morroniside on the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) in rat cortex after focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion. Methods 30 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham group, model group, morroniside- low group (30 mg/kg), morroniside- middle group (90 mg/kg) and morroniside-high group (270 mg/kg). Middle cerebral arteries of rats were occluded for 30 minutes with Longa's method and re-perfused. The expression of VEGF and FGF-2 in the ischemic ipsilateral cortex was detected with Western blotting 7 days after reperfusion. Results The expression of both VEGF and FGF-2 increased in the ischemic ipsilateral cortexin in all the ischemic groups compared with the sham group (P<0.05). The expression of VEGF further increased in a dose-dependent manner in all the morroniside groups compared with that of model group (P<0.05), and the expression of FGF-2 increased in the morroniside-high group (P<0.001). Conclusion Morroniside could increase the expression of VEGF and FGF-2 after ischemia-reperfusion, which might promote angiogenesis.

Key words: cerebral ischemia-reperfusion, morroniside, angiogenesis, vascular endothelial growth factor, fibroblast growth factor-2, rats