Lauroylethanolamide and linoleoylethanolamide improve functional outcome in a rodent model for stroke

• Published in: Neuroscience letters Vol. 492; no. 3; pp. 134 - 138
• Main Authors: Garg, Puja, Duncan, R. Scott, Kaja, Simon, Zabaneh, Alexander, Chapman, Kent D., Koulen, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 04-04-2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Disease Models, Animal; Ethanolamines - chemistry; Ethanolamines - pharmacology; Ethanolamines - therapeutic use; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery - drug therapy; Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery - physiopathology; Ischemia; Linoleic Acids; Male; Medical sciences; Middle cerebral artery occlusion; N-acylethanolamine; Neurology; Neuroprotection; Neuroprotective Agents - chemistry; Neuroprotective Agents - therapeutic use; Polyunsaturated Alkamides; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Recovery of Function - physiology; Reperfusion Injury - drug therapy; Reperfusion Injury - physiopathology; Stroke - drug therapy; Stroke - physiopathology; Treatment Outcome; Vascular diseases and vascular malformations of the nervous system; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs; Neuroprotection; N-acylethanolamine; Ischemia; Middle cerebral artery occlusion; Nervous system diseases; Stroke; Rodentia; Cardiovascular disease; Cerebral disorder; Vascular disease; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Central nervous system disease; Brain ischemia; Models; Cerebrovascular disease
• ISSN: 0304-3940; 1872-7972
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2011.01.073

► Previously uncharacterized N-acylethanolamines effective in rat model for stroke. ► Linoleoylethanolamide reduces lesion size after middle cerebral artery occlusion. ► Lauroylethanolamide and linoleoylethanolamide improve functional outcome after stroke. ► N-acylethanolamines are promising neuroprotectants for stroke therapy.
Ischemic stroke is a significant health problem affecting over 6 million people in the United States alone. In addition to surgical and thrombolytic therapeutic strategies for stroke, neuroprotective therapies may offer additional benefit. N-acylethanolamines (NAEs) are signaling lipids whose synthesis is upregulated in response to ischemia, suggesting that they may be neuroprotective. To date only three NAEs, arachidonylethanolamide (NAE 20:4), palmitoylethanolamide (NAE 16:0) and oleoylethanolamide (NAE 18:1) have shown to exert neuroprotective effect in animal models for stroke. Here, we describe neuroprotective effects of the hitherto uncharacterized NAEs, lauroylethanolamide (NAE 12:0) and linoleoylethanolamide (NAE 18:2) in a middle cerebral artery occlusion model of stroke. Pretreatment with NAE 18:2 prior to ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury resulted in both significantly reduced cortical infarct volume and improved functional outcome as determined using the neurological deficit score. NAE 12:0 improved neurological deficits without a significant reduction lesion size. Our results suggest that NAEs, as a whole, provide neuroprotection during I/R injury and may have therapeutic benefit when used as complementary treatment with other therapies to improve stroke outcome.