Hypericum perforatum is a perennial plant, with worldwide distribution, commonly known as St. John's wort. It has been used for centuries in traditional medicine for the treatment of several disorders, such as minor burns, anxiety, and mild to moderate depression. In the past years, its antidepressant properties have been extensively studied. Despite that, other H. perforatum biological activit...

Gardenamide A (GA) is a stable genipin derivative with neuroprotective properties. It rescued pheochromocytoma cell (PC12) sympathetic cultures and retinal neuronal cells from apoptosis insult induced by serum deprivation. GA attenuated the accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential. Western blotting with specific phospho-antibod...

Inflammation has been increasingly recognized to contribute to the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. Several compounds are neuroprotective at femtomolar concentrations through the inhibition of inflammation. However, the mechanisms mediating femtomolar-acting compounds are poorly understood. Here we show that both gly-gly-phe (GGF), a tri-peptide contained in the dynorphin opioid peptide, an...

Apoptosis, a major pathogenesis of cerebral ischemia, is closely associated with the dysregulation of MAPK/ERK signaling pathway. The transplantation of neural stem cells (NSCs), as a therapeutic target of cerebral ischemia, could repair missing cells and the activation of endogenous cells to provide "self-repair". However, the neuroprotective mechanism of the transplantation of NSCs against ce...

The opening of the adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-sensitive potassium (KATP) channel has been proposed as a therapeutic approach for ischemia. Here we examined the opening effect of KR-31378 on the KATP channel using patch clamp recording in neuroblastoma 2a (N2a) cells and investigated the neuroprotective effect of KR-31378 in organotypic hippocampal slice cultures exposed to oxygen/glucose depr...

Induced expression of neuroprotective genes is essential for maintaining neuronal integrity after stressful insults to the brain. Here we show that NR4A nuclear orphan receptors are induced after excitotoxic and oxidative stress in neurons, up-regulate neuroprotective genes, and increase neuronal survival. Moreover, we show that NR4A proteins are induced by cAMP response element binding protein...

Pioglitazone (PGZ), a synthetic peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ agonist, is known to regulate inflammatory process and to have neuroprotective effects against neurological disorders. In the present study, we examined the effects of 30 mg/kg PGZ on excitotoxic neuronal damage and glial activation in the mouse hippocampus following intracerebroventricular injection of kainic acid (KA...

  Background : Many studies have focused on oxidative stress induced damage and hence, the protective effects conferred by antioxidants. An example is neurodegenerative diseases which is thought to occur due to neuronal loss associated with oxidative stress. However, some antioxidants such as vitamin E have been shown to also exert pro-oxidative effects at high concentration.   Objective : In t...

During our investigation of the neuroprotective activity of Platycodi radix we found that an aqueous extract of this folk medicine exhibited significant protection against glutamate-induced toxicity in primary cultured rat cortical cells. In order to clarify the neuroprotective mechanism(s) of this observed effect, activity-guided isolation was performed to seek and identify active fractions an...

The omega class glutathione S-transferases (GSTOs) are multifunctional enzymes involved in cellular defense and have distinct structural and functional characteristics, which differ from those of other GSTs. Previous studies provided evidence for the neuroprotective effects of GSTOs. However, the molecular mechanisms underpinning the neuroprotective functions of GSTOs have not been fully elucid...