Minocycline-Induced Attenuation of Iron Overload and Brain Injury After Experimental Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Background and Purpose—Brain iron overload plays a detrimental role in brain injury after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). A recent study found that minocycline acts as an iron chelator and reduces iron-induced neuronal death in vitro. The present study investigated if minocycline reduces iron overload after ICH and iron-induced brain injury in vivo. Methods—This study was divided into 4 parts: (1) rats with different sizes of ICH were euthanized 3 days later for serum total iron and brain edema determination; (2) rats had an ICH treated with minocycline or vehicle. Serum iron, brain iron, and brain iron handling proteins were measured; (3) rats had an intracaudate injection of saline, iron, iron+minocycline, or iron+macrophage/microglia inhibitory factor and were used for brain edema and neuronal death measurements; and (4) rats had an intracaudate injection of iron and were treated with minocycline. The brains were used for edema measurement. Results—After ICH, serum total iron and brain nonheme iron inc...