Neuroprotection by herbal formula FBD and its active compounds

Figures & data

Figure 1.  Chemical structures of atractylenolide I, II, III, ferulic acid, levistolid A, and pachymic acid.

Figure 2.  Effects of FBD, FBD-CO2 and FBD-H2O on brain infarction and circulating NSE efflux in ICR mice subjected to cerebral repetitive I/R. Each column represents mean ± SD of 6 mice. NSE, neuron specific enolase; I/R, ischemia-reperfusion; #p<0.05, ##p<0.01 vs the sham-operated group; *p<0.05, **p<0.01 vs the saline-pretreated I/R group.

Figure 3.  Neuroprotective activities of atractylenolide II, atractylenolide III, levistolid A, ferulic acid from FBD-CO2 on PC12 cells I/R-like insults. Each dot represents mean ± SD of 6 wells. I/R, ischemia-reperfusion; *p<0.05, **p<0.01 vs the vechicle-treated PC12 cells.

Figure 4.  Neuroprotective activities of atractylenolide I, II, III, levistolid A, ferulic acid and pachymic acid combination on PC12 cells I/R-like insults. Values are means ± SD of three different experiments. The A570/650 in control was 0.64 ± 0.02. I/R, ischemia-reperfusion; Ctl, Control; Vh, vehicle; Com, Combination; CO2, FBD-CO2; VE, Vitamin E; ##p < 0.01 vs the control (Ctl); **p<0.01, ***p < 0.001 vs the vehicle (Vh)-treated cells; ††p < 0.01 vs the FBD-CO2-treated cells.

Table 1.  Neuroprotections (%) of atractylenolide I,II, III, levistolid A, ferulic acid and pachymic acid alone or in combination on PC12 cells I/R-like insults induced by Na₂S₂O₄, MSG, H₂O₂ and KCl in assay I–IV in vitro.

Assay no.	Assay I	Assay II	Assay III	Assay IV
Atractylenolide I	1.8	0.4	0.3	0.7
Atractylenolide II	1.5	0.8	0.0	1.1
Atractylenolide III	2.1	6.6	0.6	1.1
Levistolid A	0.6	0.4	0.0	0.4
Ferulic acid	1.8	0.8	1.3	0.7
Pachymic acid	2.1	0.4	0.0	0.4
Predicted combination	9.9	9.4	2.2	4.4
Actual combination	16.4	21.8	12.6	11.0
Ratio (actual/predicted)	1.7	2.3	5.7	2.5
FBD-CO2	34.3	39.9	27.4	30.9
Ratio (actual/FBD-CO2)	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.4

Neuroprotections (%) were means of three different experiments by MTT assay.

Figure 5.  Effects of FBD-CO2 and its six compounds combination on brain infarction and circulating NSE efflux in ICR mice subjected to cerebral repetitive I/R. Each column represents mean ± SD of 6 mice. NSE, neuron specific enolase; I/R, ischemia-reperfusion; #p<0.05, ##p<0.01 vs the sham-operated group; *p<0.05, **p<0.01 vs the saline-pretreated I/R group.