Abstract:Objective To investigate the protective effect of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) on the brain and nerve function in rats after focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury and its mechanism. Methods Forty-eight adult male SD rats were randomly divided into sham group, model group and experimental group with 16 in each group (the number was complemented in case of death during modeling process). In the model group and the experimental group, suture method was used to ligate the left middle cerebral artery of the rats for modeling; 10 min after suture,the experimental group had intraperitoneal injection of 25 μmol/kg NaHS saline solution, but the sham group and the model group only received equal volume of saline. Results The mortality rate of 23.81% in the experimental group was significantly lower than 44.83% in model group (P < 0.05). The percentage of cerebral infarct volume in the model group and the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the sham group (P < 0.05); the infarct volume percentage of the experimental group was significantly lower than that of the model group (P < 0.05).p-Akt and caspase in the hippocampal CA1 region of the model group were significantly higher than those of the sham group (P < 0.05) . Caspase protein in the hippocampal CA1 region of the rats in the experimental group was significantly lower than that in the model group (P < 0.05). PI3K and p-Akt in the hippocampal CA1 region of the rats in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the sham group and the model group(P < 0.05). Conclusions H2S intervention has protective effect on brain spinal nerve function in the treatment of focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury rat model due to cerebral artery occlusion, its mechanism may be related to the activation of PI3K/p-Akt pathway and inhibition of apoptosis-related protein caspase.