Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy and Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, Shaanxi, China.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2012 Nov;50(11):4010-5. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2012.08.006. Epub 2012 Aug 10.
Glutamate is an important excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. Excessive accumulation of glutamate can cause excitotoxicity, which plays a key role in spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, stroke, and neurodegenerative diseases. Curculigoside (CCGS) is a major bioactive compound isolated from the rhizome of Curculigo orchioides Gaertn. CCGS has an extensive biological effect and has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. However, little is known about the neuroprotective effects of CCGS on glutamate-induced excitotoxicity. This study aims to evaluate the neuroprotective effects of CCGS in cultured cortical neurons. The results indicated that treatment with 1 and 10 μM CCGS evidently prevented N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)-induced neuronal cell loss and reduced the number of apoptotic and necrotic cells in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. The neuroprotective effects of CCGS are related to down regulating the apoptotic protein levels and reducing the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species in cultured cortical neurons. These findings give a new insight into the development of natural anti-excitotoxicity agents.
谷氨酸是中枢神经系统中一种重要的兴奋性神经递质。谷氨酸的过度积累会导致兴奋性毒性，这在脊髓损伤、创伤性脑损伤、中风和神经退行性疾病中起着关键作用。仙茅苷（CCGS）是从仙茅根茎中分离得到的主要生物活性化合物。CCGS 具有广泛的生物学作用，并已应用于中药。然而，关于 CCGS 对谷氨酸诱导的兴奋性毒性的神经保护作用知之甚少。本研究旨在评估 CCGS 在培养的皮质神经元中的神经保护作用。结果表明，1 和 10 μM CCGS 处理可明显防止 N-甲基-D-天冬氨酸（NMDA）诱导的神经元细胞丢失，并呈时间和浓度依赖性减少凋亡和坏死细胞的数量。CCGS 的神经保护作用与下调凋亡蛋白水平和减少培养皮质神经元中细胞内活性氧的产生有关。这些发现为开发天然抗兴奋性毒性药物提供了新的思路。
