• Lu He, Xiaoyang Zhang, Xianfeng Wei, and Yunsheng Li.
• Department of Anatomy and Histology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, 22 Qixiangtai Road, Tianjin, 300070, China.
• Neurochem. Res. 2014 Nov 1;39(11):2251-61.

AbstractPrevious studies have suggested that progesterone may be involved in neuroprotection by preventing brain edema. In this study, we assessed the effects of progesterone on aquaporin-4 (AQP4) expression in an ischemia/reperfusion model of cultured rat astrocytes, and further explored the possible role of the protein kinase C (PKC) pathway in this course. We evaluate primary culture astrocytes exposed to 4 h oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) followed by 24 h reperfusion (OGD4h/R24h) as a means of simulating cortex ischemia and reperfusion, and test the effect of progesterone on AQP4 expression in response to OGD4h/R24h. Besides, the cell viability was assessed by MTT reduction and lactate dehydrogenase release assay, accompanied by cell morphology survey. At a concentration of 1 and 2 μM, progesterone significantly attenuated AQP4 at the level of both protein and mRNA and ameliorated the cell viability of astrocytes from OGD/reperfusion injury. Moreover, this effect was blocked by the PKC inhibitor Ro31-8220, which was employed before the OGD. These results indicate that progesterone exerts the protective effects and attenuates AQP4 expression in an astrocyte model of ischemia/reperfusion depending on the PKC signal pathway.

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