ABSTRACT
To investigate the neuroprotective of ligustilide (LIG) against glutamate-induced apoptosis of PC12 cells, cell viability were examined by MTT assay. Flow cytometry was applied to assay cell apoptosis rate. Intracellular calcium concentration was measured by using fluorescent dye Fluo-3/AM. Cytochrome C (Cyt C), Caspase-3, Bax and Bcl-2 protein expression were assayed by western blot. The results showed that glutamate is cytotoxic with an inhibitory concentration 50 (ID50) of 15 mmol · L(-1). Pretreatment with LIG (1, 5, 15 μmol · L(-1)) significantly improved cell viability. The apoptosis rate in glutamate-induced PC12 cells was 13.39%, and decreased in the presence of LIG (1, 5, 15 μmol · L(-1)) by 9.06%, 6.48%, 3.82%, separately. Extracellular accumulation of Ca2+ induced by glutamate were significantly reduced by LIG. The results of western blot manifested that pretreatment LIG could decrease the release of Cyt C from mitochondria, down-regulate Caspase-3 protein expression and up-regulate Bcl-2/Bax ratio, thereby protects PC12 cells from apoptosis. In summary, LIG had protective effect on glutamate-induced apoptosis in PC12 cells through attenuating the increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration, and inhibiting the release of Cyt C from mitochondria to cytoplasm.