Agomelatine improves the cognitive function of rats with traumatic brain injury by regulating the polarization of microglia in the hippocampus

Objective : To explore the effect and mechanism analysis of agomelatine (AGO) in improving cognitive impairment in rats with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods : Thirty rats were divided into the Sham group and the TBI group. The TBI group established the TBI rat model by free fall strike. After AGO intervention was conducted on 10 randomly selected rats, the cognitive levels of rats in each group were detected by Morris water maze and field experiments. Result : The protein expressions of TLR4, MyD88 and NF-κB increased, and the expression level of NF-κB in hippocampal tissue also increased (P < 0.05). Conclusion : AGO improves cognitive dysfunction in TBI rats, which may be related to its promotion of M2 polarization of hippocampal microglia, thereby reducing inflammatory injury and inhibiting the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB pathway.