Abstract Antrodia camphorata (AC) has been suggested as an alternative Chinese medicine commonly used to protect and treat liver diseases due to its beneficial functions of anti-inflammation and anti-oxidation. Essential element of magnesium (Mg), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), and copper (Cu) is required for brain functions. Our study was to explore whether antrodia camphorata is able to protect the ischemic brain cortex from oxidative injury and this neuroprotection is correlated with the disturbance of lipid peroxidation and essential elements. Forty male SpragueDawley rats were randomly divided into four groups as follows: control, ligation, AC, and prevention. The control and ligation rats were intraperitoneally injected with physiological saline and the AC and prevention rats were given with AC (100mg/Kg) once a day for 7 consecutive days. Cerebral ischemic injury was induced by ligation of the right middle cerebral artery (RMCA) and right common carotid artery (RCMCA) for 1 hour followed by harvesting and homogenizing cerebral cortex tissues to analyze the levels of MDA, Mg, Zn, Fe, Cu, and the Zn/Cu ratio. Experimental observations indicate that ischemic stroke obviously increased the levels of MDA, Fe, and Cu but decreased Zn/Cu ratio, Mg, and Zn concentrations. However, pretreating of rats with AC before ischemic insult markedly reversed all experimental results. Accordingly, we suggest that neuroprotection of AC on the ischemic cerebral cortex is highly associated not only with declining the level of lipid peroxidation, Fe, and Cu but also with enhancing the levels of Mg, Zn, and the Zn/Cu ratio.
Keywords Antrodia camphorata ∙ ischemic stroke ∙ lipid peroxidation ∙ Zn/Cu ratio ∙ essential element.