Cytosolic phospholipase A2alpha amplifies early cyclooxygenase-2 expression,oxidative stress and MAP kinase phosphorylation after cerebral ischemia in mice

Background: the enzyme cytosolic phospholipase a2alpha (cpla2α) has been implicated in the progression of cerebral injury following ischemia and reperfusion. previous studies in rodents suggest that cpla2α enhances delayed injury extension and disruption of the blood brain barrier many hours after reperfusion. in this study we investigated the role of cpla2α in early ischemic cerebral injury.methods: middle cerebral artery occlusion (mcao) was performed on cpla2α+/+and cpla2α-/-mice for 2 hours followed by 0,2,or 6 hours of reperfusion. the levels of cpla2α,cyclooxygenase-2,neuronal morphology and reactive oxygen species in the ischemic and contralateral hemispheres were evaluated by light and fluorescent microscopy. pge2content was compared between genotypes and hemispheres after mcao and mcao and 6 hours reperfusion. regional cerebral blood flow was measured during mcao and phosphorylation of relevant mapks in brain protein homogenates was measured by western analysis after 6 hours of reperfusion.results: neuronal cpla2α protein increased by 2-fold immediately after mcao and returned to pre-mcao levels after 2 hours reperfusion. neuronal cyclooxygenase-2 induction and pge2concentration were greater in cpla2α+/+compared to cpla2α-/-ischemic cortex. neuronal swelling in ischemic regions was significantly greater in the cpla2α+/+than in cpla2α-/-brains (+/+: 2.2 ± 0.3 fold vs. -/-: 1.7 ± 0.4 fold increase; p < 0.01). the increase in reactive oxygen species following 2 hours of ischemia was also significantly greater in the cpla2α+/+ischemic core than in cpla2α-/-(+/+: 7.12 ± 1.2 fold vs. -/-: 3.1 ± 1.4 fold; p < 0.01). after 6 hours of reperfusion ischemic cortex of cpla2α+/+,but not cpla2α-/-,had disruption of neuron morphology and decreased pge2content. phosphorylation of the mapks-p38,erk 1/2,and mek 1/2-was significantly greater in cpla2a+/+than in cpla2α-/-ischemic cortex 6 hours after reperfusion.conclusions: these results indicate that cpla2α modulates the earliest molecular and injury responses after cerebral ischemia and have implications for the potential clinical use of cpla2α inhibitors. © 2010 kishimoto et al; licensee biomed central ltd.