The peptide semax affects the expression of genes related to the immune and vascular systems in rat brain focal ischemia: genome-wide transcriptional analysis
Medvedeva EV, Dmitrieva VG, Povarova OV, et al. (2014). BMC Genomics.
Summary
A genome-wide look at what semax does to gene expression in the brain tissue of rats after an induced stroke, sampled at 3 and 24 hours. Genes related to the immune system dominated the response: by 24 hours they made up over half the genes whose expression semax altered, with immunoglobulin and chemokine genes the most prominent groups. A smaller set of genes related to blood vessel development and function also changed. The authors propose immune modulation and effects on the vascular system as the mechanisms behind the neuroprotective effects reported elsewhere; the study measures gene expression, not recovery.