Abstract: Objective To observe the protective effect of compound Jingchuan tablets on cerebral ischemic injury in rats and to explore its effect on microglia/macrophage polarization. Methods Sixty rats were randomly divided into sham group, model group, nimodipine group (positive control group), low, middle and high-dose compound Jingchuan tables groups. Except for the sham group, the middle cerebral artery occlusion model rats were established with thread blocking method in the other groups. Seven days before modeling, the low, middle and high- dose groups (0.78, 1.56 and 3.12 g/kg of compound Jingchuan tables) were gived continuous intragastric administration for 10 days. Longa neurological function score and cross-walking test score were used to evaluate neurobehavioral changes 48 h after modeling. Hematoxylin-eosin staining was used to observe the pathological changes of brain tissue. Immunohistochemical staining and Western blot assay were used to observe the expression changes of clusters of differentiation 86 (CD86) and arginase-1(Arg1). Results Compared with the sham group, the neurological function score and the cross-walk test score were significantly increased in the model group (P＜0.05). The neurons of cerebral cortex on the ischemic side were significantly necrotic and missing, and the proliferation of microglia/macrophages was obvious. The expressions of CD86 and Arg1 increased significantly (P＜0.05). Compared with the model group, the scores of neurological function and cross-walking test were significantly reduced in each treated group (P＜0.05). On the ischemic side, the lesions of cerebral cortex were alleviated, the number of necrotic nerve cells decreased, the number of pyramidal cells increased, and microglia/macrophage were still proliferated. The expression of CD86 decreased, and the expression of Arg1 increased, especially in the high-dose group (P＜0.05). Conclusion Compound Jingchuan tablets can reduce nerve damage after cerebral ischemia and the effect is more obvious at high dose. The protective mechanism may be related to the regulation of microglia/macrophage polarization.

Key words: brain injuries, macrophages, microglia, antigens, CD86, arginase, Compound Jingchuan tablets, ischemic brain injury