Several reports suggest that hydrogen sulfide (H2S) exerts multiple biological and physiological effects on the pathogenesis of traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, the exact molecular mechanism involved in this effect is not yet fully known. In this study, we found that H2S alleviated TBI-induced motor and spatial memory deficits, brain pathology, and brain edema. Moreover, sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS), an H2S donor, treatment markedly increased the expression of Bcl-2, while inhibited the expression of Bax and Cleaved caspase-3 in TBI-challenged rats. Tunnel staining also demonstrated these results. Treatment with NaHS significantly reduced the glutamate and glutaminase 2 (GLS-2) protein levels, and glutamate-mediated oxidative stress in TBI-challenged rats. Furthermore, we demonstrated that H2S treatment inhibited glutamate-mediated oxidative stress through the p53/GLS-2 pathway. Therefore, our results suggested that H2S protects brain injury induced by TBI through modulation of the glutamate-mediated oxidative stress in the p53/GLS-2 pathway-dependent manner.
Keywords: glutamate; hydrogen sulfide; oxidative stress; p53; traumatic brain injury.