Objective: To investigate the effect of maslinic acid preconditioning against injuries of rat cortical neurons induced by oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD).
Methods: The cortical neurons were isolated from Sprague-Dawley rat embryos at 15-17 days of gestation for primary culture. The cortical neurons were incubated with different concentrations (0.1, 1, and 10 micro;mol/L) of maslinic acid prior to OGD. The cell damage and viability were evaluated for lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage and using MTT assay, respectively, and the expression of Bax protein was detected using Western blotting.
Results: OGD significantly increased LDH release rate and decreased the viability of the cells. After preconditioning with maslinic acid (1 and 10 micro;mol/L), LDH leakage rate was decreased and cell the viability increased in cells exposed to OGD. Western blotting showed that Bax expression in the cells decreased as maslinic acid concentrations increased.
Conclusion: Pretreatment with maslinic acid can protect cultured embryonic rat cortical neurons against OGD-induced injury possibly in relation to decreased expression of Bax.