Rhubarb extract shields brain cells after hemorrhagic stroke in mice
Lai Z, Zhang X, Li J, Fan L, Hu E
Medicinal Plants
Rhubarb, the tart stalks you might harvest from a backyard patch, turns out to carry compounds that protect brain cells from the kind of damage that follows severe stroke, giving the old kitchen-garden perennial a medical research profile far beyond pie filling.
When blood leaks into the brain during a hemorrhagic stroke, immune cells in the brain go haywire and start dying in a destructive chain reaction that worsens the injury. Researchers found that giving mice a rhubarb extract turned up the activity of a tiny RNA molecule, which then put the brakes on that cell-death spiral. Less cell death meant less inflammation, a more intact blood-brain barrier, and better neurological recovery.
Key Findings
Rhubarb treatment (0.6-2.4 g/kg) significantly improved neurological scores and reduced blood-brain barrier disruption in a mouse model of brain hemorrhage.
Rhubarb reversed the drop in Snord17 expression caused by hemorrhage and suppressed four key cell-death proteins: ZBP-1, RIPK3, NLRP3, and Caspase-3.
Knocking out Snord17 in lab-grown microglia activated the p53 signaling pathway and promoted PANoptosis, confirming Snord17 as the critical link.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Rhubarb extract reduced brain damage in mice after a type of stroke by boosting a small RNA molecule called Snord17, which blocks a destructive form of cell death in brain immune cells. The findings point to rhubarb as a potential neuroprotective treatment and shed light on how it works at the molecular level.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Rhubarb attenuates intracerebral hemorrhage injury by upregulating Snord17 to inhibit PANoptosis.
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is the most severe subtype of stroke and currently lacks effective therapies. PANoptosis, a novel programmed cell death mode, plays an important role in ICH. Rhubarb ...
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Rhubarb is the fleshy, edible stalks (petioles) of species and hybrids of Rheum in the family Polygonaceae, which are cooked and used for food. The plant is a herbaceous perennial that grows from short, thick rhizomes. Historically, different plants have been called "rhubarb" in English. The larg...