Aqueous and Ethanolic Extracts of Boswellia serrata Protect Against Focal Cerebral Ischemia and Reperfusion Injury in Rats.

Oxidative stress and cell apoptosis play major roles in neuronal injury after ischemia-reperfusion (I-R) injury. Boswellia serrata is a medicinal plant with antioxidant properties. Acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid (AKBA) is an active triterpenoid compound from B. serrate. In the current study, the neuroprotective effects of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of B. serrata (named ABS and EBS, respectively) and AKBA were investigated against middle cerebral artery occlusion-induced cerebral I-R injury in rats. ABS and EBS with doses of 125, 250 and 500 and AKBA with a dose of 50 mg/kg were administered (intraperitoneally) just after middle cerebral artery occlusion induction for 30 min and reperfusion for 24 h. HPLC analysis suggested that ABS and EBS had AKBA of 8.8% and 9.5% (w/w), respectively. B. serrata and AKBA significantly improved neurological deficit and reduced brain infarction, neuronal cell loss and apoptosis and also attenuated lipid peroxidation while increasing glutathione content and superoxide dismutase activity in the cerebral cortex following a stroke. Apoptosis suppression was found to be mediated through regulating caspase-3 and bax/bcl-2 expressions. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that B. serrata and AKBA attenuate oxidative damage and inhibit cell apoptosis, subsequently protecting cerebral I-R injury in rats. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.