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Roflumilast Reduces Cerebral Inflammation in a Rat Model of Experimental Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

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An Author Correction to this article was published on 15 October 2022

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Abstract

Roflumilast, a selective inhibitor for PDE4, is approved by FDA as an anti-inflammation drug for treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This study investigates the effects of roflumilast on cerebral inflammation in the rat SAH model. Here, we show that subcutaneous administration of roflumilast (3 mg/kg) significantly improved the neurological deficits. Measurement of evans blue extravasation and brain water content revealed a significant reduction of blood-brain barrier permeability and brain edema. Importantly, roflumilast treatment remarkably decreased levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α and the number of apoptotic neurons in the brain after SAH. These results indicate that roflumilast is effective in treating cerebral inflammation following SAH.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by funds from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81471212, 81271275, 81070947 to Baoliang Sun; 81671141 to Zongyong Zhang) and the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong, China (Grant No. ZR2012HZ006 to Baoliang Sun).

Contributors

BS and JK conceived the project and designed experiments. QW, LQ, HL, LM, MY, RX, and XY performed the experiments; BS and JW analyzed the results, ZZ and BS wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Shandong University School of Medicine, Jinan, Shandong, 250012, China

    Qingjian Wu & Lifeng Qi

  2. Department of Neurology, Key Laboratory of Cerebral Microcirculation in Universities of Shandong, Affiliated Hospital of Taishan Medical University, Taian, Shandong, 271000, China

    Qingjian Wu, Hanxia Li, Leilei Mao, Mingfeng Yang, Rongxia Xie, Xiaoyi Yang, Zongyong Zhang & Baoliang Sun

  3. Department of Emergency, Jining NO.1 People’s Hospital, Jining, Shandong, 272011, China

    Qingjian Wu

  4. Department of Neurology, Liaocheng People’s Hospital and Liaocheng Clinical School of Taishan Medical University, Liaocheng, 252000, China

    Lifeng Qi

  5. Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Jian Wang

  6. Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3E 0J9, Canada

    Jiming Kong

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  1. Qingjian Wu
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  2. Lifeng Qi
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  3. Hanxia Li
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  4. Leilei Mao
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  5. Mingfeng Yang
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  8. Jian Wang
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  9. Zongyong Zhang
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  10. Jiming Kong
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  11. Baoliang Sun
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Zongyong Zhang, Jiming Kong or Baoliang Sun.

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Qingjian Wu and Lifeng Qi are co-first authors.

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Wu, Q., Qi, L., Li, H. et al. Roflumilast Reduces Cerebral Inflammation in a Rat Model of Experimental Subarachnoid Hemorrhage. Inflammation 40, 1245–1253 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10753-017-0567-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10753-017-0567-8

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