Talaumidin, a tetrahydrofuran neolignan isolated from the root of Aristolochia arcuata, was an interesting small molecule with neurotrophic activity in the cultured neuron. Talaumidin can promote neurite outgrowth from neurons. However, the mechanism by which talaumidin exerts its neurotrophic actions on retinal neurons has not been elucidated to date. In this study, we describe that talaumidin has neurotrophic properties such as neurite outgrowth in neuroretinal cell line, RGC-5. Talaumidin promotes staurosporine-induced neurite outgrowth in RGC-5 cells. The neurite outgrowth effect of talaumidin was inhibited by phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor, LY294002, but not by Erk inhibitor, PD98059. These data suggest that talaumidin promotes neurite outgrowth through PI3K/Akt pathway and that the potential of talaumidin serves as a promising lead compound for the treatment of retinal degenerative disorders.
Keywords: Akt; Axon outgrowth; Erk; Glaucoma; Retinal ganglion cell; Survival; Talaumidin.