Neuroprotective effects of α-tocopherol on oxidative stress in rat striatal cultures
2003
Abstract Oxidative stress caused by an increase in free radicals plays an important role in neuronal death. We investigated the effects of α-tocopherol on oxidative stress-induced cytotoxicity using primary cultures of rat striatal neurons. α-Tocopherol at concentrations of 1–10 μM significantly prevented cytotoxicity induced by superoxide radical (O 2 − ) donor, 1,1′-dimethyl-4,4′-bipyridium dichloride (paraquat). In contrast, α-tocopherol did not affect the cytotoxicity of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), which enhances hydroxyl radical (·OH) formation by metal-catalyzed Fenton reactions. α-Tocopherol significantly inhibited the cytotoxicity of nitric oxide (NO) donors, S -nitrosocysteine and 3-morpholinosydnonimine (SIN-1). α-Tocopherol showed potent protection against cytotoxicity induced by l -buthionine-[ S , R ]-sulfoximine (BSO), which causes depletion of intracellular glutathione. Moreover, α-tocopherol afforded a moderate but significant inhibition of cytotoxicity induced by a non-specific protein kinase inhibitor, staurosporine, which is known to induce apoptosis in many types of cells including neurons. These results suggest that α-tocopherol protects striatal neurons by the reduction of oxidative stress, presumably by decreasing intracellular O 2 − levels, and at least partly by the inhibition of apoptosis.
Keywords:
- Correction
- Source
- Cite
- Save
- Machine Reading By IdeaReader
40
References
74
Citations
NaN
KQI