Piceatannol effectively counteracts glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase aggregation and nuclear translocation in hippocampal cells

Abstract There is increasing evidence that supplementation with superfoods is one of the available solution to prevent or slow down the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. Especially polyphenols have been reported to exert strong neuroprotective properties. Taking into consideration our latest discovery, where we demonstrated that piceatannol inhibits glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) aggregation ( in tube ) we decided to explore its effect on hippocampal cells. We investigated how piceatannol influence on oxidatively modified GAPDH in hippocampal cells by using confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, western blot analysis, spectrophotometric assays. Additional we assessed effect of piceatannol on level of Bdnf and Sirt1 mRNA (RT-PCR) and the activity of GPx, GR, GST, Cat. We found that piceatannol significantly suppresses GAPDH nuclear translocation as well as protein aggregation induced by excessive stress. The piceatannol anti-aggregation activity and ability to counteract GAPDH nuclear translocation place this compound as a new drug candidate for in vivo tests.