Puerarin extracted from Radix puerariae has been shown to exert neuroprotective effects. However, it is still not known whether puerarin protects hippocampal neurons against cell death in pilocarpine-induced seizures. In this study, we found that pretreatment with puerarin significantly attenuated the neuronal death in the hippocampus of rats with pilocarpine-induced epilepsy. In addition, puerarin decreased the level of seizure-induced reactive oxygen species in mitochondria isolated from the rat hippocampi. Terminal deoxyuridine triphosphate nick-end labeling staining showed that puerarin exerted an anti-apoptotic effect on the neurons in the epileptic hippocampus. Western blot analysis showed that puerarin treatment significantly decreased the expression of Bax and increased the expression of Bcl-2. Moreover, puerarin treatment restored the altered mitochondrial membrane potential and cytochrome c release from the mitochondria in the epileptic hippocampi. Altogether, the findings of this study suggest that puerarin exerts a therapeutic effect on epilepsy-induced brain injury through antioxidant and anti-apoptotic mechanisms.
CITATION STYLE
Xie, N., Wang, C., Lian, Y., Wu, C., Zhang, H., & Zhang, Q. (2014). Puerarin Protects Hippocampal Neurons Against Cell Death in Pilocarpine-Induced Seizures Through Antioxidant and Anti-Apoptotic Mechanisms. Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, 34(8), 1175–1182. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10571-014-0093-2
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