Mi-Hyeon Jang1, Min-Chul Shin1, Youn-Jung Kim1, Joo-Ho Chung2, Sung-Vin Yim3, Ee-Hwa Kim4, Yeunhee Kim5 and Chang-Ju Kim1,*
Departments of 1Physiology and 2Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Hoigi-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 130-701, Korea
3Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Hyoja-dong, Chuncheon, Kangwon, 200-701, Korea
Departments of 4Meridianology and 5Biochemistry, College of Oriental Medicine, Semyung University, Shinwol-dong, Jechon, Chungbuk, 390-711, Korea
*Corresponding author. FAX: +82-2-964-2195, E-mail: changju@khu.ac.kr
Abstract: Puerariae flos (PF) is an oriental medical herb for alcohol abuse. To investigate whether PF possesses protective effects against ethanol (EtOH)-induced cytotoxicity in the central nervous system, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, flow cytometric analysis, DNA fragmentation assay, and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction were performed on SK-N-MC human neuroblastoma cells. Cells treated with EtOH exhibited several apoptotic features, while those pre-treated with PF prior to EtOH exposure showed a decreased occurrence of apoptotic features. In addition, PF pre-treatment inhibited the EtOH-induced increase in caspase-3 mRNA expression. These results suggest that PF may exert protective effects against EtOH-induced apoptosis in human neuroblastoma cells.
Keywords: Puerariae flos, Ethanol, Apoptosis
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