Regulation of tyrosine protein kinase receptor Trk-B and motor function in rats following cardiac arrest.

Following 10 min cardiac arrest and resuscitation, male Sprague-Dawley rats developed posthypoxic myoclonus. Sixty days later, the motor function of the animals was restored. In the present study, we investigated brain levels of tyrosine protein kinase receptor Trk-B with quantitative immunoblot analysis at various time points following cardiac arrest. In the frontal cortex, a significant reduction of Trk-B was found in rats 3 days (53%) after cardiac arrest, whereas significant increases were detected in rats 14 (124%) and an average 60 days (98%) after cardiac arrest. In the striatum, significant increases were found in rats 3 (389%), 14 (483%), and 60 days (521%) after resuscitation. In contrast, significant reductions of Trk-B were detected in the cerebellum of rats 3 (46%), 14 (22%), and 60 days (18%) after cardiac arrest. The results indicate that regulation of Trk-B may vary in different brain regions and have important roles in recovery processes following hypoxic-ischemic insults to the brain.