• Song Zhao, Zhanyang Yu, Gang Zhao, Changhong Xing, Kazuhide Hayakawa, Michael J Whalen, Josephine M Lok, Eng H Lo, and Xiaoying Wang.
• Neuroprotection Research Laboratory, Departments of Neurology and Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.
• Bmc Neurosci. 2012 Jan 1;13:67.

BackgroundAccumulating evidence has demonstrated that over-expression of Neuroglobin (Ngb) is neuroprotective against hypoxic/ischemic brain injuries. In this study we tested the neuroprotective effects of Ngb over-expression against traumatic brain injury (TBI) in mice.ResultsBoth Ngb over-expression transgenic (Ngb-Tg) and wild-type (WT) control mice were subjected to TBI induced by a controlled cortical impact (CCI) device. TBI significantly increased Ngb expression in the brains of both WT and Ngb-Tg mice, but Ngb-Tg mice had significantly higher Ngb protein levels at the pre-injury baseline and post-TBI. Production of oxidative tissue damage biomarker 3NT in the brain was significantly reduced in Ngb-Tg mice compared to WT controls at 6 hours after TBI. The traumatic brain lesion volume was significantly reduced in Ngb Tg mice compared to WT mice at 3 weeks after TBI; however, there were no significant differences in the recovery of sensorimotor and spatial memory functional deficits between Ngb-Tg and WT control mice for up to 3 weeks after TBI.ConclusionNgb over-expression reduced traumatic lesion volume, which might partially be achieved by decreasing oxidative stress.

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