Abstract
Five taxane diterpenoids derived from the 95% ethanol extract of Taxus chinensis were tested for the inhibitory activities on amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptide aggregation. Using thioflavin-T fluorescence assay, sciadopitysin was found to exhibit the most potency against Aβ aggregation and the formation of fibrils. Further cellular assay indicated that sciadopitysin increased the cell viability of SH-SY5Y cell and demonstrated neuroprotection against Aβ protein-induced insult in primary cortical neurons. According to the authors' best knowledge, this is the first report that sciadopitysin can inhibit the Aβ aggregation and reduce Aβ-induced toxicity in the primary cortical neurons.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support by the National Science and Technology Major Project of China (No. 2010ZX09102-305), the National High-tech R&D Program of China (863 Program) (No. 2012AA020307), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos 81001372 and 81173470) and the External Cooperation Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. P2010-KF08).