Objective       To determine the effect of combination of muscone and breviscapine on the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 and the permeability of blood-brain barrier in rats after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.       Methods       A total of 504 rats were randomly divided into sham operation group

model group

muscone group (1 mg/kg)

breviscapine group (200 mg/kg) and combination groups (1 mg/kg muscone plus 400

200 and 100 mg/kg breviscapine

respectively)

72 animals in each group. Middle cerebral artery occlusion model rats were established by suture-occluded method. After reperfusion for 3

6

12

24

48 and 72 h

the levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in the brain tissue were evaluated by Western blotting

and the permeability of blood-brain barrier was evaluated by evaluating the contents of Evans Blue in brain tissue.       Results       Compared with model group

the expression levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 and the content of EB in brain tissue were decreased significantly in the breviscapine group and the combination groups (

P

0.01). But there was no significant difference in the expression levels and the content between the model group and the muscone group（

P

0.05）. Factorial analysis showed that muscone of 1 mg/kg combined with breviscapine of high

middle and low doses exerted synergetic effects (

P

0.01).       Conclusion       Muscone combined with breviscapine shows better protective effects than breviscapine alone on the blood-brain barrier in rats after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.