Echinacoside Protects against 6-Hydroxydopamine-Induced Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Inflammatory Responses in PC12 Cells via Reducing ROS Production

Abstract EN

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive loss of dopaminergic (DA) neurons at the substantia nigra.

Mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammatory responses are involved in the mechanism of cell damage in PD.

6-Hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), a dopamine analog, specifically damages dopaminergic neurons.

Echinacoside (ECH) is a phenylethanoid glycoside isolated from the stems of Cistanche salsa, showing a variety of neuroprotective effects in previous studies.

The present study was to investigate its effect against 6-OHDA-induced neurotoxicity and possible mechanisms in PC12 cells.

The results showed that 6-OHDA reduced cell viability, decreased oxidation-reduction activity, decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, and induced mitochondria-mediated apoptosis compared with untreated PC12 cells.

However, echinacoside treatment significantly attenuated these changes induced by 6-OHDA.

In addition, echinacoside also could significantly alleviate the inflammatory responses induced by 6-OHDA.

Further research showed that echinacoside could reduce 6-OHDA-induced ROS production in PC12 cells.

These results suggest that the underlying mechanism of echinacoside against 6-OHDA-induced neurotoxicity may be involve in attenuating mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammatory responses by reducing ROS production.