Curcumin alleviates OGD/R-induced PC12 cell damage via repressing CCL3 and inactivating TLR4/MyD88/MAPK/NF-κB to suppress inflammation and apoptosis.

OBJECTIVES

Curcumin presents some therapeutic effects including anti-cancer and anti-inflammation. Herein, we centred on the functional role of curcumin in cerebral ischaemia injury and its potential molecular mechanisms.

METHODS

Microarray analysis was used for excavating crucial genes in cerebral ischaemia. PC12 cells were subjected to oxygen-glucose deprivation and reoxygenation (OGD/R) to imitate cerebral ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in vitro. Cell viability and apoptosis abilities were evaluated by Cell Counting Kit-8 and flow cytometry assays. qRT-PCR, Western blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were performed to assess the concentrations of related genes.

KEY FINDINGS

By enquiring GEO dataset, C-C motif chemokine ligand 3 (CCL3) was profoundly upregulated in cerebral I/R injury model. And CCL3 was found to be highly expressed in PC12 cells suffered from OGD/R. Moreover, we found that CCL3 was a potential target of curcumin in cerebral I/R injury. More importantly, the following experiments illustrated that curcumin inhibited the expression of CCL3 in OGD/R model and reduced cell apoptosis and inflammation. Moreover, high expression levels of TLR4, MyD88, p-NF-κB P65, p-P38 MAPK and p-IκBα in OGD/R model were inhibited by curcumin.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study manifested that curcumin might be a meritorious drug for the treatment of cerebral ischaemia by acting on CCL3.