, 2005). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), an important HIF1-α target gene and vascular permeabilizing factor (Fischer et al., 1999 and Minchenko et al., 1994) is induced by hypoxia and decreases the expression of BBB tight junction proteins (Keck et al., 1989), such as ZO-1 (Fischer et al., ZD1839 solubility dmso 2002 and Yeh et al., 2007) and occludin(Fischer

et al., 2002 and Luissint et al., 2012). Furthermore, VEGF induces BBB disruption and vasogenic edema (Kimura et al., 2005, Roberts and Palade, 1995, Sood et al., 2008, van Bruggen et al., 1999 and Wang and Tsirka, 2005) under ischemic stroke. Considering research into the role of ASK1 in ischemia-induced angiogenesis in vivo, ASK1 is involved in VEGF expression in ischemic tissue and promotes early angiogenesis by stimulating VEGF expression (Izumi et al., 2005). Aquaporin (AQP)-1, a family of water channels, is known as a water-selective transporting protein in cell membranes as CHIP28 (CHannel-like Integral membrane Protein of 28 kDa) (Agre et al., 1993 and Smith and Agre, 1991). In hypoxic conditions, AQP-1 expression is upregulated in human endothelial cells (Kaneko et al., 2008). AQP-1 activity is stimulated by hypertonicity and is regulated by ERK, p38, and JNK activation (Umenishi and Schrier, 2003) Dabrafenib nmr and is associated with stress-induced endothelial cell migration (Saadoun et al., 2005). In present study,

we investigated whether ASK1 affects vascular permeability and edema formation after ischemic brain injury. We show that ASK1 inhibition is linked to the prevention of edema formation under hypoxic injury. Thus, our results suggest that ASK1 regulation might alleviate stroke-induced pathological alterations by protecting the disruption of BBB following cerebral ischemic injury. To investigate whether ASK1 inhibition alters the expression of permeability-related genes, we performed microarray analyses (Fig. 1). We sorted genes that were increased over 2-fold in the MCAO group compared with normal group, then screened for genes that were down-regulated more than 2-fold in the si-ASK1 group compared with the MCAO group. Several genes were selected, including matrix

metallopeptidase 3 (MMP3) ( Ashina et al., 2010), integrin alpha 8 (Itga8) ( Cucullo et al., MRIP 2011 and Osada et al., 2011), cadherin 1 (Cdh1) ( Zechariah et al., 2013), gap junction protein beta 1 (Gjb3) ( Song et al., 2007), Selectin (Sele) ( Jin et al., 2010), intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (Icam1) ( An and Xue, 2009), aquaporin 8(Aqp8) ( Richard et al., 2003), aquaporin 12 (Aqp12) ( Calvanese et al., 2013) related with vascular permeability. Also, vascular endothelial growth factor A (Vegfa) ( Gong et al., 2014 and Poittevin et al., 2014), and vascular endothelial growth factor C (Vegfc) ( Foster et al., 2008 and Xu et al., 2013) which are related with vascular permeability were down-regulated in the si-ASK1 group compared with the MCAO group slightly.