Cerebral ischemia causes delayed neuronal cell death in the hippocampus resulting in sequential cognitive impairments. Hyper-activated inflammation following ischemia is one of the etiologies for delayed neuronal cell death. In the present study, using a transient global ischemia mouse model, we showed that auraptene (AUR), a citrus coumarin, effectively inhibited microglia activation, cyclooxygenase-2 expression by astrocytes, and neuronal cell death in the hippocampus following ischemic insults. These results suggest that AUR acts as a neuroprotective agent in the ischemic brain, which may be mediated by suppression of the inflammatory response.
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