Perioperative aspirin improves neurological outcome after focal brain ischemia possibly via inhibition of Notch 1 in rat

Background: perioperative discontinuation of aspirin is often considered due to bleeding concern. we determined whether this discontinuation affected neurological outcome after brain ischemia.methods: adult male sprague-dawley rats were subjected to a 90-minute right middle cerebral arterial occlusion (mcao). they received 30 mg/kg/day aspirin via gastric gavage: 1) for 2 days at 5 days before mcao; 2) for 2 days at 5 days before mcao and for 3 days after mcao; 3) for 7 days before mcao; or 4) for 7 days before mcao and for 3 days after mcao. neurological outcome was evaluated 3 days after the mcao. ischemic penumbral cortex was harvested 1 or 3 days after mcao for determining notch intracellular domain (nicd),il-6 and il-1β levels.results: aspirin given by regimen 2 and 3 but not by regimen 1 improved neurological outcome. neuroprotection was achieved by n-[n-(3,5-difluorophenacetyl)-l-alanyl]-s-phenylglycine t-butyl ester (dapt),a notch activation inhibitor. dapt and aspirin given only by regimen 2 and 3 reduced nicd,il-6 and il-1β in the ischemic penumbral cortex. nicd was found in microglial nuclei. microglial activation in the ischemic tissues was inhibited by aspirin.conclusion: aspirin use during the perioperative period provides neuroprotection. inhibition of notch activation and neuroinflammation may contribute to the neuroprotection of aspirin. © 2014 wang et al.; licensee biomed central ltd.