- Academic Editor
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†These authors contributed equally.
Background: Stroke is a major health concern and a leading cause of
mortality and morbidity. We and other groups have documented that hyperbaric
oxygen preconditioning could significantly alleviate neuronal damage in
ischemia‒reperfusion models through various mechanisms. However, we found that
some of the subjects did not benefit from preconditioning with hyperbaric oxygen.
The preconditioning phenomenon is similar to vaccination, in which the endogenous
survival system is activated to fight against further injuries. However, with
vaccine inoculations, we could test for specific antibodies against the pathogens
to determine if the vaccination was successful. Likewise, this experiment was
carried out to explore a biomarker that can reveal the effectiveness of the
preconditioning before neuronal injury occurs. Methods: Middle cerebral
artery occlusion (MCAO) was used to induce focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion
injury. 2D-DIGE-MALDI-TOF-MS/MS proteomic technique was employed to screen the
differentially expressed proteins in the serum of rats among the control (Con) group (MCAO
model without hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) preconditioning), hyperbaric oxygen
protective (HBOP) group (in which the infarct volume decreased after HBO
preconditioning vs. Con), and hyperbaric oxygen nonprotective (HBOU) group (in
which the infarct volume remained the same or even larger after HBO
preconditioning vs. Con). Candidate biomarkers were confirmed by western blot and enzyme
linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the relationship between the biomarkers and the prognosis of cerebral
injury was further validated. Results: Among the 15 differentially
expressed protein spots detected in the HBOP group by
Two-dimensional fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis
(2D-DIGE), 3 spots corresponding to 3 different proteins (haptoglobin, serum
albumin, and haemopexin) products were identified by MALDI-TOF-MS/MS. Serum
albumin and haemopexin were upregulated, and haptoglobin was downregulated in the
HBOP group (p