Brain Research Bulletin 107 (2014) 37–42 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Brain Research Bulletin j ourna l h o mepa ge: www.elsevier.com/locate/brainresbull Review RIFAMPICIN: An antibiotic with brain protective function Burak Yulug a,∗ , Lütfü Hanoglu a , Ertugrul Kilic b , Wolf Rüdiger Schabitz c a Department of Neurology, University of Istanbul-Medipol, Istanbul, Turkey b Department of Physiology, Brain Research Laboratory, University of Istanbul-Medipol, Istanbul, Turkey c Department of Neurology, Bethel-EvKB, Bielefeld, Germany a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 11 March 2014 Received in revised form 8 May 2014 Accepted 27 May 2014 Available online 4 June 2014 Keywords: Rifampicin Stroke Parkinson’s disease Alzheimer’s disease Optic nerve injury Meningitis a b s t r a c t Besides its well known antibiotic activity rifampicin exerts multiple brain protective functions in acute cerebral ischemia and chronic neurodegeneration. The present mini-review gives an update of the unique activity of rifampicin in different diseases including Parkinson’s disease, meningitis, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and optic nerve injury. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 1.1. Stroke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 1.2. Meningitis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 1.3. Optic nerve injury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 1.4. Parkinson’s disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 1.5. Alzheimer’s disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 1.6. The effects of rifampicin on glucocorticoid receptors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 2. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 1. Introduction The overwhelming progress in basic neuroscience research led to many therapeutic advances for neurological diseases. Despite these achievements treatment opportunities for several diseases such as stroke or dementia are still devastating. Therefore, research focused on the development of novel candidates causally interac- ting in brain disease pathophysiology. Of these candidates, antibi- otics are particularly interesting because they exert in addition ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 506 406 97 14. E-mail address: burakyulug@gmail.com (B. Yulug). to the substance immanent antibiotic activity an array of brain protective functions including the prevention of mitochondrial mediated cytochrome c release, microglial activation, glutamate neurotoxicity, and oxidative stress (Kim and Suh, 2009; Hashimoto, 2008; Mao, 2005; Rothstein et al., 2005; Tomiyama et al., 1996a). Rifampicin is a semisynthetic derivative of the rifampycins, a class of broad-spectrum antibiotics that are fermentation products of Nocardia meditterranei. The common structure of the rifampycins is a napthohydroquinone chromophore spanned by an aliphatic ansa chain (Tomiyama et al., 1996a). Rifampicin reaches maximal serum concentration in 1–4 h after application and its plasma half-time is 2–5 h (Acocella, 1978). The lipophilic ansa chain is mainly responsi- ble for the transport of the drug across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) into the brain parenchyma (Mindermann et al., 1993). In the light http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2014.05.007 0361-9230/© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.