Browsing by Author "Liew, Hock-Kean"

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    Moderate Ethanol Pre-treatment Mitigates ICH-Induced Injury via ER Stress Modulation in Rats
    (Frontiers Media, 2021-06-25) Lin, Peter Bor-Chian; Wang, Po-Kai; Pang, Cheng-Yoong; Hu, Wei-Fen; Tsai, Andy Po-Yi; Oblak, Adrian L.; Liew, Hock-Kean; Radiology and Imaging Sciences, School of Medicine
    Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a life-threatening type of stroke that disrupts the normal neurological function of the brain. Clinical studies have reported a non-linear J-shaped association between alcohol consumption levels and the occurrence of cerebral stroke. Specifically, alcohol intoxication increases stroke incidence, while moderate alcohol pre-conditioning decreases stroke frequency and improves outcomes. Although alcohol pre-consumption is likely a crucial player in ICH, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. We performed 1-h alcohol pre-conditioning followed by ICH induction in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats to investigate the role of alcohol pre-conditioning in ICH. Interestingly, behavioral test analysis found that ethanol intoxication (3 g/kg) aggravated ICH-induced neurological deficits, but moderate ethanol pre-conditioning (0.75 g/kg) ameliorated ICH-induced neurological deficits by reducing the oxidative stress and proinflammatory cytokines release. Moreover, we found that moderate ethanol pretreatment improved the striatal endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis by increasing the chaperone protein expression and reducing oxidative stress and apoptosis caused by ICH. Our findings show that the mechanism regulated by moderate ethanol pre-conditioning might be beneficial for ICH, indicating the importance of ER homeostasis, oxidative stress, and differential cytokines release in ICH.
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    The Role of Urocortins in Intracerebral Hemorrhage
    (MDPI, 2020-01) Choy, KerWoon; Tsai, Andy Po-Yi; Lin, Peter Bor-Chian; Wu, Meng-Yu; Lee, Chihyi; Alias, Aspalilah; Pang, Cheng-Yoong; Liew, Hock-Kean; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) causes an accumulation of blood in the brain parenchyma that disrupts the normal neurological function of the brain. Despite extensive clinical trials, no medical or surgical therapy has shown to be effective in managing ICH, resulting in a poor prognosis for the patients. Urocortin (UCN) is a 40-amino-acid endogenous neuropeptide that belongs to the corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) family. The effect of UCN is activated by binding to two G-protein coupled receptors, CRH-R1 and CRH-R2, which are expressed in brain neurons and glial cells in various brain regions. Current research has shown that UCN exerts neuroprotective effects in ICH models via anti-inflammatory effects, which generally reduced brain edema and reduced blood-brain barrier disruption. These effects gradually help in the improvement of the neurological outcome, and thus, UCN may be a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of ICH. This review summarizes the data published to date on the role of UCN in ICH and the possible protective mechanisms underlined.