Curcumin treatment recovery the decrease of protein phosphatase 2A subunit B induced by focal cerebral ischemia in Sprague-Dawley rats

Curcumin provides various biological effects through its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Moreover, curcumin exerts a neuroprotective effect against ischemic condition-induced brain damage. Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is a ubiquitous serine and threonine phosphatase with various cell functions and broad substrate specificity. Especially PP2A subunit B plays an important role in nervous system. This study investigated whether curcumin regulates PP2A subunit B expression in focal cerebral ischemia. Cerebral ischemia was induced surgically by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Adult male rats were injected with either vehicle or curcumin (50 mg/kg) 1 h after MCAO and cerebral cortex tissues were isolated 24 h after MCAO. A proteomics study, reverse transverse-PCR and Western blot analyses were performed to examine PP2A subunit B expression levels. We identified a reduction in PP2A subunit B expression in MCAO-operated animals using a proteomic approach. However, curcumin treatment prevented injury-induced reductions in PP2A subunit B levels. Reverse transverse-PCR and Western blot analyses confirmed that curcumin treatment attenuated the injury-induced reduction in PP2A subunit B levels. These findings can suggest that the possibility that curcumin maintains levels of PP2A subunit B in response to cerebral ischemia, which likely contributes to the neuroprotective function of curcumin in cerebral ischemic injury.