Quantitative Analysis of Peptide and Protein Changes in Ischemic Hippocampal Tissue by HPLC

Profiling of hippocampal peptides by reversed-phase HPLC (RP-HPLC) was used as a tool for identifying molecular events associated with neuro-degeneration following global cerebral i ischemia . Global cerebral ischemia is known to cause impairment of working memory, but not reference memory in humans and rats (1 ,2 ). Histologically, global cerebral ischemia results in the selective, delayed neurodegeneration of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons in humans and rats (1 ,3 ). Quantitatively, there is no significant decrease in the number of CA1 pyramidal cells on post-ischemic d 1, but highly significant decreases on d 3 and 7 (3 ). Consequently, the unique, delayed-onset, and selective vulnerability of post-ischemic hippocampal CA1 neurodegeneration in the four-vessel occlusion (4-VO) rat model of transient, global cerebral i ischemia have become of intense interest for clarification of the mechanisms of neurodegeneration and pathophysiology of amnesia after global i ischemia , as well as identification of molecular targets for pharmacological intervention and treatment (4 ).