Hypoxic preconditioning has protective effects against acute cerebral infarction

Hypoxic preconditioning has been shown to have protective effects against acute cerebral infarction. To investigate the protective mechanisms of hypoxic preconditioning in relation to its effects on angiogenesis, Prof. Xunming Ji and team from Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University in China induced a photochemical model of cerebral infarction in an inbred line of mice (BALB/c) which were exposed to hypoxic preconditioning prior to model establishment. The researchers found that hypoxic preconditioning reduced infarct volume and attenuated the impairment of neurological function. These neuroprotective effects were related to increased vascular endothelial growth factor and CD31 expression, which promoted angiogenesis. These findings were published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No. 31, 2013).