Figure 3

Estradiol treatment rescued the decreased levels of phosphorylated Akt Ser-473 induced by ischemia in the cortex and hippocampus, but not the decrease in Akt Thr-308. Akt activation was inferred in western blots of homogenates from the ipsilateral cerebral cortex (A, B, C) and hippocampus (D, E, F). The bar graphs show the levels of total Akt (A, D), pAkt Ser-473 (B, E), pAkt Thr-308 (C, F), and representative blots. The data represent the mean of five independent experiments and β-tubulin or β-actin were used as loading controls. In both the cortex and hippocampus, pMCAO (IV group) significantly reduced levels of pAKT Ser-473 (B, C) and pAkt Thr-308 (E, F) 54 h after the onset of ischemia. Post-pMCAO estradiol treatment (IE group) attenuated the decrease in pAkt Ser-473 in the cortex (B) and hippocampus (E), but had no such effect on pAkt Thr-308 in either region (C, F). No changes in total Akt levels were observed in any of the experimental groups (A, D). The data are expressed as mean ± SEM; * P ≤ 0.05; n = 6 rats per group. IE, pMCAO-estradiol; IV, pMCAO-vehicle; SE, Sham-estradiol; SV, Sham-vehicle.