Effects of Cistanche on apoptosis of PC12 cells

    TIAN Jiª²Yu, CHEN Jianª²Zong, CHEN Xiaoª²Li, YANG Hao

    1Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2Department of Pharmacy, Xijing Hospital, 3PLA Institute of Neurobiology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi¬ðan 710033, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To investigate the effects of Cistanche on 1ª²methylª²4ª²phenylpyridinium (MPP+) ª²induced PC12 cells apoptosis. METHODS: PC12 cells were exposed to 200¦Ìmol/L MPP+ alone or MPP+ combined with different concentration of Cistanche from New Zealand White rabbit serum. Effects of Cistanche on apoptosis of PC12 Cells were detected by flow cytometry, electron microscopy and fluorescence microscopy. RESULTS: The sera collected from rabbits fed on an equivalent dosage of Cistanche or on a twofold equivalent dosage of Cistanche had obvious protective effects on PC12 cells and the apoptosis rates of PC12 cells incubated with these two sera were 2.8% and 10.2%, respectively, which were obviously lower than those of PC12 cells with MPP+ treatment only (18.6%, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Cistanche can protect PC12 cells from apoptosis induced by MPP+. ......