RESUMO
One of the most common pathological changes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain is the large number of amyloid ß (Aß) peptides accumulating in lesion areas. Ginsenosides are the most active components extracted from ginseng. Ginsenoside Rd (GRd) is a newly discovered saponin that has a stronger pharmacological activity than other ginsenosides, especially in neuroprotection. Here we examined the neuroprotective effects of GRd against neuronal insults induced by Aß25-35 in primary cultured hippocampal neurons. A 10µM GRd treatment significantly prevented the loss of hippocampal neurons induced by Aß25-35. In addition, GRd significantly ameliorated Aß25-35-induced oxidative stress by decreasing the reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and malondialdehyde (MDA) level, and increasing the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px); which is similar in treatments with 10µM of probucol (PB) and 100µM of edaravone (EDA). Moreover, our present study demonstrated that GRd significantly enhanced the expression of Bcl-2 mRNA, and decreased the expressions of Bax mRNA and Cyt c mRNA. GRd also downregulated the protein level of cleaved Caspase-3 compared to controls. These results highlighted the neuroprotective effects of GRd against Aß25-35-induced oxidative stress and neuronal apoptosis, suggesting that this may be a promising therapeutics against AD.
