Batroxobin Against Anoxic Damage of Rat Hippocampal Neurons in Culture:Morphological Changes and Hsp70 Expression

Batroxobin,the thrombin-like enzyme,is used for therapeutic defibrination.We have found thatbatroxobin has good therapeutic effect in ischemic reperfusion rats and clinical practices in vivo.Butwe have not studied the neuroprotective effect of batroxobin on anoxic hippocampai neurons in vitro.The purpose of this study was to obtain further information on the mechanism of the batroxobin-induced neuroprotection and examine the neuroprotective effect on neurons exposed to anoxia.Theeffect of batroxobin on anoxic damages in cultured hippocampal neurons of neonatal rats wasinvestigated by using morphological changes and heat shock protein 70Kd (Hsp70) immunoreactiveexpression as indicators.The results indicate that batroxobin,besides its defibrination,may have adirect neuroprotective effect on anoxic damage of hippocampai neurons.