lithospermic-acid and Inflammation

Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorders after Alzheimer's disease. The main cause of the disease is the massive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Neuronal apoptosis and neuroinflammation are thought to be the key contributors to the neuronal degeneration.. Both CATH.a cells and ICR mice were treated with 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridin (MPP(+)) to induce neurotoxicity in vitro and in vivo. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry were also used to analyse neurotoxicity, neuroinflammation and aberrant neurogenesis in vivo. The experiment in CATH.a cells showed that the treatment of MPP(+) impaired intake of cell membrane and activated caspase system, suggesting that the neurotoxic mechanisms of MPP(+) might include both necrosis and apoptosis. Pretreatment of lithospermic acid might prevent these toxicities. Lithospermic acid possesses specific inhibitory effect on caspase 3. In mitochondria, MPP(+) caused mitochondrial depolarization and induced endoplasmic reticulum stress via increasing expression of chaperone protein, GRP-78. All the effects mentioned above were reduced by lithospermic acid. In animal model, the immunohistochemistry of mice brain sections revealed that MPP(+) decreased the amount of dopaminergic neurons, enhanced microglia activation, promoted astrogliosis in both substantia nigra and hippocampus, and MPP(+) provoked the aberrant neurogenesis in hippocampus. Lithospermic acid significantly attenuates all of these effects induced by MPP(+).. Lithospermic acid is a potential candidate drug for the novel therapeutic intervention on Parkinson's disease.

Topics: 1-Methyl-4-phenylpyridinium; Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents; Apoptosis; Benzofurans; Cell Line; Depsides; Inflammation; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred ICR; Neurogenesis; Neurons

Lithospermic acid (LSA) was originally isolated from the roots of Salvia mitiorrhiza, a common herb of oriental medicine. Previous studies demonstrated that LSA has antioxidant effects. In this study, we investigated the in vitro xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitory activity, and in vivo hypouricemic and anti-inflammatory effects of rats. XO activity was detected by measuring the formation of uric acid or superoxide radicals in the xanthine/xanthine oxidase system. The results showed that LSA inhibited the formation of uric acid and superoxide radicals significantly with an IC50 5.2 and 1.08 microg/ml, respectively, and exhibited competitive inhibition. It was also found that LSA scavenged superoxide radicals directly in the system beta-NADH/PMS and inhibited the production of superoxide in human neutrophils stimulated by PMA and fMLP. LSA was also found to have hypouricemic activity on oxonate-pretreated rats in vivo and have anti-inflammatory effects in a model of gouty arthritis. These results suggested that LSA is a competitive inhibitor of XO, able to directly scavenge superoxide and inhibit superoxide production in vitro, and presents hypouricemic and anti-inflammatory actions in vivo.

Topics: Allopurinol; Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; Arthritis, Gouty; Benzofurans; Depsides; Disease Models, Animal; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Enzyme Inhibitors; Humans; Hyperuricemia; Inflammation; Male; Molecular Conformation; N-Formylmethionine Leucyl-Phenylalanine; Neutrophils; Oxonic Acid; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Reactive Oxygen Species; Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate; Uric Acid; Xanthine Oxidase