Ginsenoside Rg1 relieves tert-Butyl hydroperoxide-induced cell impairment in mouse microglial BV2 cells

Abstract

Microglial activation plays an important role in neurodegenerative diseases associated with oxidative stress. tert-Butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP), an analog of hydroperoxide, mimics the oxidative damage to microglial cells. It has been reported that ginsenoside Rg1 (G-Rg1), an active ingredient of Panax ginseng, has anti-stress and anti-inflammatory properties. The present study aims to investigate the ability of G-Rg1 to decrease the t-BHP-mediated cell damage of BV2 microglial cells. We performed flow cytometry assays to facilitate the detection of reactive oxygen species as well as Western blotting analyses and immunofluorescence assays using specific antibodies, such as antibodies against phospho-mitogen-activated protein kinases (p-MAPKs), phospho-nuclear factor-κB (p-NF-κB), B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), Bcl-2-associated X (Bax), Caspase-3, autophagy marker light chain 3 (LC3), and Becline-1. We found that treatment with 50 μM G-Rg1 protected microglial cells against oxidative damage induced by 10 μM t-BHP.

Keywords::

• ginsenoside Rg1
• BV2 microglial cell
• tert-Butyl hydroperoxide
• apoptosis
• reactive oxygen species
• autophagy marker light chain 3

Acknowledgements

The present study was financially supported by grants from the Natural Science Foundation of Guangzhou [grant number S2013010013623], the National Program on Key Basic Research Project [973 Program, and grant number 2011CB707501] and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 81371442].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.