Cerebral Ischemia

HIF/PHD in Cerebral Ischemia

In the adult organism, cerebral ischemia is commonly precipitated by embolic vessel obstruction resulting in reduction or complete loss of perfusion in downstream fields. Neuronal loss, tissue edema and tissue necrosis ensue. Following pemanent middle cerebral artery occlusion in rats we observed a marked induction of HIF-2alpha in neurons (Fig. 1) closely followed, temporally and spatially, by upregulation of HIF-2alpha target genes such as VEGF, Epo (Erythropoietin) and VEGFR-2 (Fig. 1).

  Fig. 1

Our results suggest that HIF-2α could be an important regulator of ischemia-induced responses particularly in neurons and might promote cell survival after ischemia by increasing glucose transport, upregulation of potentially neuroprotective factors (VEGF, Epo) and induction of angiogenesis.