Affiliation: | aInstitute of Pharmaceutical Research, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, PR China bDepartment of Neurobiology, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, South Chongqing Road 280, Shanghai 200025, PR China |
Abstract: | An excess of the free radical nitric oxide (NO) is viewed as a deleterious factor involved in various CNS disorders. The protective effect of panaxydol (PND) and panaxynol (PNN) on sodium nitroprusside (SNP)-induced neuronal apoptosis and potential mechanism were investigated in primary cultured rat cortical neurons. Pretreatment of the cells with PND or PNN for 24 h following 1 mM SNP, an exogenous NO donor, exposure for 1 h, resulted significantly in reduction of cell death induced by SNP determined by MTT assay, LDH release and Hoechst staining. 5 μM PND and PNN also reduced the up-regulation of the pro-apoptotic gene, Bax, down-regulation of the anti-apoptotic gene, Bcl-2. The observations demonstrated that PND and PNN protect neurons against SNP-induced apoptosis via regulating the apoptotic related genes. The results raise the possibility that PND and PNN reduce neurodegeneration in the Alzheimer's brain. |