The PPAR-γ agonist, darglitazone, restores acute inflammatory responses to cerebral hypoxia-ischemia in the diabetic ob/ob mouse

Diabetes is an increased risk factor for stroke and results in increased brain damage in experimental animals and humans. The precise mechanisms are unclear, but our earlier studies in the db/db mice suggested that the cerebral inflammatory response initiating recovery was both delayed and diminished in the diabetic mice compared with the nondiabetic db/+ mice. In this study, we investigated the actions of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-gamma agonist darglitazone in treating diabetes and promoting recovery after a hypoxic-ischemic (H/I) insult in the diabetic ob/ob mouse. Male ob/+ and ob/ob mice received darglitazone (1 mg/kg) for 7 days before induction of H/I. Darglitazone restored euglycemia and normalized elevated corticosterone, triglycerides, and very-low-density lipoprotein levels. Darglitazone dramatically reduced the infarct size in the ob/ob mice at 24 h of recovery compared with the untreated group (30 +/- 13% to 3.3 +/- 1.6%, n = 6 to 8) but did not show any significant effect in the ob/+ mice. Microglial and astrocytic activation monitored by cytokine expression (interleukin-1 beta and tumor necrosis factor-alpha) and in situ hybridization studies (bfl1 and glial fibrillary acidic protein) suggest a biphasic inflammatory response, with darglitazone restoring the compromised proinflammatory response(s) in the diabetic mouse at 4 h but suppressing subsequent inflammatory responses at 8 and 24 h in both control and diabetic mice. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism (2010) 30, 352-360; doi: 10.1038/jcbfm.2009.221; published online 28 October 2009