Pretreated duloxetine protects hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons from ischemia-reperfusion injury through decreases of glial activation and oxidative stress.

Duloxetine (DXT), a serotonin/norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, is widely used for the treatment of major depressive disorders. In the present study, we investigated the neuroprotective effect of pre-treated DXT in the hippocampal CA1 region following transient global cerebral ischemia. Pre-treatment with 40mg/kg DXT protected pyramidal neurons in the CA1 region from ischemia-reperfusion injury. In addition, pre-treatment with DXT reduced ischemia-induced activations of microglia and astrocytes in the ischemic CA1 region. On the other hand, we found that pre-treatment with DXT did not increase 4-hydroxy-2-noneal (a marker for lipid peroxidation) and significantly increased the expression of Cu, Zn-superoxide dismutase, an antioxidant, in the CA1 pyramidal neurons compared with non-treated those after ischemia-reperfusion. These results indicate that pre-treated DXT has neuroprotective effect against transient global cerebral ischemia and suggest that the neuroprotective effect of DXT may be due to the attenuation of ischemia-induced glial activation as well as the decrease of oxidative stress.