Figure 7

Ceftriaxone attenuates HI-induced brain injury and the loss of GLT-1 protein in neonatal DEX-treated rats. (A) Schematic representation of the experimental design for examining the effect of ceftriaxone (CEF) treatment on DEX-induced enhancement of HI-induced brain injury. Rat pups were treated with a 3-day tapering course (0.5, 0.3 and 0.1 mg/kg) of DEX or equal volume of SAL from P1 to P3 and were subjected to cerebral HI by unilateral ligation of the common carotid artery followed by exposure to hypoxia (92% N₂ + 8% O₂) for 2 hours on P7. Ceftriaxone (200 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally 1 hour before DEX or SAL administration. Brain injury and the expression of GLT-1 protein in the frontal cortex were analyzed on P8. (B) Brain injury was quantified at 24 hours after HI by TTC staining. (C-E) Representative Western blot and summary bar graph depicting the relative expression levels of GLT-1 in the frontal cortex (C), the hippocampus (D) and the striatum (E) from SAL-, DEX-, SAL + CEF- and DEX + CEF-treated groups on P7. The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of animals examined. Data are presented as means ± S.E.M. *P < 0.05 compared with SAL-treated group.