HS protects rat cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury by inhibiting expression and activation of hippocampal ROCK at the Thr436 and Ser575 sites.

Background: HS is an endogenous gas signal molecule, which protects cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury by phosphorylating rho-associated coiled coil-containing protein kinase 2 (ROCK) at Tyr722, and inhibiting ROCK protein expression and activities. We previously reported that HS protected rat neurons from hypoxia/reoxygenation injury in vitro through inhibiting phosphorylation of ROCK at Thr436 and Ser575, but it is unclear whether these two sites are involved in protection of HS against cerebral I/R injury.

Method: Rats transfected with wild-type and mutant eukaryotic plasmids of ROCK in hippocampus were used to establish I/R model by ligating bilateral common carotid artery.