Beneficial Role of Rosuvastatin in Blood-Brain Barrier Damage Following Experimental Ischemic Stroke.

Hemorrhage transformation is the most challenging preventable complication in thrombolytic therapy and is related to recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA)-induced blood-brain barrier (BBB) damage. Intraperitoneal injections of normal or high doses of rosuvastatin were administered to Balb/c mice 20 min prior to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) surgery for 3 h followed by reperfusion with rt-PA thrombolytic therapy and cerebral blood flow monitoring to investigate whether a high or normal dose of rosuvastatin reduces BBB damage after brain ischemia and rt-PA reperfusion. The integrity of the BBB was ameliorated by normal and high doses of rosuvastatin as determined from Evans blue staining, ultrastructure assessments and immunochemistry at 24 h after reperfusion.