Early recovery of protein synthesis following ischemia in hippocampal neurons with induced tolerance in the gerbil.

Following brief cerebral ischemia, tolerance to subsequent ischemia is induced in the hippocampal neurons. In this experiment, recovery of protein synthesis was investigated autoradiographically in gerbils with induced tolerance. The animals were subjected to single forebrain ischemia for 5 min (5-min ischemia group) or 2 min (2-min ischemia group). To observe the effect of tolerance acquisition, double forebrain ischemia (double ischemia group), 2-min ischemia followed by 5-min ischemia was induced 2 days later. At various recirculation periods (90 min, 6 h, 1 day, and 4 days following ischemia), animals received a single dose of L-[2,3-3H]valine. In the 5-min ischemia group, protein synthesis in the CA1 sector was severely suppressed during the period from 90 min to 1 day of recirculation and never returned to the normal level even at 4 day of recirculation. In the 2-min ischemia group, protein synthesis recovered gradually and returned to near normal at 4 days of recirculation. On the other hand, in the double ischemia group, recovery of protein synthesis in the CA1 sector was rapid. At 1 day of recirculation, protein synthesis returned to near normal. Protein synthesis in the CA2 sector was inhibited during the 4 days of recirculation in this group. The present study revealed an early recovery of protein synthesis in the hippocampal CA1 neurons in the gerbil with induced tolerance. We suggest that recovery of protein synthesis is essential for the survival of neurons exposed to transient ischemia.