Protective effect of Acanthopanax senticosus on oxidative stress induced PC12 cell death

Epidemiologic studies have shown important relationships between oxidative stress and Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain. In this study, free radical scavenging activity and neuronal cell protection effect of aqueous methanol extracts of Acanthopanax senticosus (A. senticosus) were examined. H ₂O₂-induced oxidative stress was measured using 2',7'-dichloro-fluorescein diacetate (DCF-DA) assay. Pretreatment with the phenolics of A. senticosus prevented oxidative injury against H ₂O₂ toxicity. Since oxidative stress is known to increase neuronal cell membrane breakdown, leading to cell death, lactic dehydrogenase release, and trypan blue exclusion assays were utilized. We found that phenolics of A. senticosus have neuronal cell protection effects. It suggests that the phenolics of A. senticosus inhibited H₂O₂-induced oxidative stress and A. senticosus may be beneficial against the oxidative stress-induced risk in AD.