Intraventricular CXCL12 is neuroprotective and increases neurogenesis in a murine model of stroke

Stroke is the leading cause of physical disability and the second leading cause of death in adults. Chemokines that regulate ischemic microenvironment can influence neurorestorative therapies in stroke patients. CXCL12 was shown to be neuroprotective, but there are some contradictory results in the literature. The objective of this work is to verify whether CXCL12 delivery to the brain could be beneficial or harmful. We decided to evaluate the intraventricular delivery to facilitate its application in clinical practice. Intraventricular CXCL12 was able to produce increased mRNA expression of the receptors CXCR4 and CXCR7 in the cerebral cortex. After the stroke, intraventricular CXCL12 decreased mice ischemic area and improved behavioral response. We found CXCL12 was neuroprotective, increase reactive astrogliosis and improve neurogenesis in the perilesional area.