Blockade of AT1 receptor reduces apoptosis, inflammation, and oxidative stress in normotensive rats with intracerebral hemorrhage

Angiotensin II exerts its central nervous system effects primarily via its receptors AT1 and AT2, and it participates in the patho-genesis of ischemia via AT1. The selective AT1 receptor blocker (ARB) is used in the hypertension treatment, and it exerts a variety of pleiotropic effects, including antioxidative, antiapop-totic, and anti-inflammatory effects. In this study, we investi-gated the therapeutic effect of the ARB telmisartan in experi-mental intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in normotensive rats. ICH was induced via the collagenase infusion or autologous blood injection. Either telmisartan at 30 mg/kg/dose or phos-phate-buffered saline was orally administered 2 h after ICH induction. We evaluated hemorrhage volume, brain water con-tent, and functional recovery, and we performed the histologi-cal analysis for terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUT