{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,31]],"date-time":"2026-07-31T06:00:43Z","timestamp":1785477643318,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":19,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,31]],"date-time":"2026-07-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785456000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Neurol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Astaxanthin (ATX) is a dietary carotenoid that possesses potent effects of anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation, and anti-cell death. ATX has neuroprotective properties in a variety of neurological diseases. However, whether ATX has a neuroprotective effect in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is still unknown. The present study was carried out to explore the protective effects of ATX and the underlying mechanisms using a collagenase-induced ICH in mice. Single dose of astaxanthin (100\u202fmg\/kg) or vehicle was administrated to mice through intraperitoneal injection at 30 min after ICH induction. Our results showed that ATX significantly ameliorated secondary brain injury after ICH, including neurological deficits, neural cell degeneration, blood\u2013brain barrier (BBB) disruption and brain water content. We further demonstrated that ATX exerted anti-neuroinflammatory effects by inhibiting microglia activation and production of pro-inflammatory mediators (TNF-\u03b1 and IL-1\u03b2). ATX administration attenuated ICH-induced oxidative stress by reducing the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) and restoring the activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Moreover, ATX promoted nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) protein translocation from cytoplasm to nucleus and increased the expression of Nrf2-antioxidant response element (ARE) downstream factors such as heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and NADPH quinine oxidoreductase-1 (NQO-1) after ICH. Taken together, these data provided the first evidence that astaxanthin exerted neuroprotective effects in ICH mice, which suggests the Nrf2-ARE pathway was significantly correlated with the neuroprotective effects of ATX.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fneur.2026.1879830","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,31]],"date-time":"2026-07-31T05:38:32Z","timestamp":1785476312000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Astaxanthin exerts neuroprotection against experimental intracerebral hemorrhage in mice: association with anti-neuroinflammation and the Nrf2-ARE pathway"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Xingfen","family":"Su","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, Fujian, China"]},{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery, National Regional Medical Center, Binhai Campus of the First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lijin","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, Fujian, China"]},{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery, National Regional Medical Center, Binhai Campus of the First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fuxiang","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, Fujian, China"]},{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery, National Regional Medical Center, Binhai Campus of the First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University","place":["Fuzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"720","DOI":"10.1016\/S1474-4422(12)70104-7","article-title":"Intracerebral haemorrhage: mechanisms of injury and therapeutic targets","volume":"11","author":"Keep","year":"2012","journal-title":"Lancet Neurol"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pneurobio.2013.11.003","article-title":"Inflammation in intracerebral hemorrhage: from mechanisms to clinical translation","volume":"115","author":"Zhou","year":"2014","journal-title":"Prog Neurobiol"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"60","DOI":"10.1186\/s12868-016-0295-2","article-title":"Astaxanthin alleviates cerebral edema by modulating NKCC1 and AQP4 expression after traumatic brain injury in 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