Effects of rhodioloside on the neurological functions of rats with total cerebral ischemia/reperfusion and cone neuron injury in the hippocampal CA1 region

Rhodioloside, the main effective constituent of Rhodiola rosea, demonstrates antiaging and antioxidative stress functions and inhibits calcium overloading in cells. These functions imply that rhodioloside may exert protective effects on hippocampal neurons after total cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. In this study, male Wistar rat models of total cerebral ischemia were constructed and randomly divided into four groups: sham-operation, ischemia/reperfusion, low-dosage, and high-dosage groups. The result showed that rhodioloside treatment reduced the apoptosis rates of hippocampal neurons and the histological grades of cone cells in the hippocampal CA1 region, but neuronal density was significantly increased. Besides, the protein expressions of Bcl-2/Bax and p53 were measured and found Bcl-2/Bax was increased and p53 protein level was reduced. Therefore, rhodioloside might have protective effects on rats with ischemia/reperfusion brain injury.