Long‐term effects of hypothermia on neuronal cell death <scp>and</scp> the concentration of apoptotic proteins after incomplete cerebral ischemia <scp>and</scp> reperfusion in rats

Abstract

The present data show that hypothermia prevents an ischemia-induced increase of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax for as long as 28 days and increases the concentration of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2 up to 3 days compared to normothermic animals. Therefore, after cerebral ischemia, hypothermia has the sustained neuroprotective potential to shift apoptosis-related proteins towards neuronal cell survival.