Protective effects of dehydrocostuslactone on rat hippocampal slice injury induced by oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation

The present study aimed to investigate the protective effects of dehydrocostuslactone (DHL) against rat hippocampal slice injury caused by oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R). Rat hippocampal slice injury was induced by OGD/R in vitro, and the degree of injury was evaluated through a lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay and 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining. The protein expression levels of B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax), cytochrome c (cyt-c), apoptotic protease activating factor 1 (apaf-1), caspase-9, caspase-7, caspase-3, sequesto-some 1 (SQSTM1) and microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3) were analyzed through western blot analysis. The results showed that 1, 5 and 10 mu M DHL decreased the levels of LDH (P<0.05) and increased the A(490) value of TTC (P<0.05). Furthermore, the expression of Bcl-2 was enhanced, and the protein expression levels of Bax, cyt-c, apaf-1, caspase-9, caspase-7, caspase-3, SQSTM1 and LC3 were significantly inhibited (P<0.05), compared with those in the OGD/R group. These results suggested that DHL elicited protective effects against hippocampal OGD/R injury, and its underlying mechanism may be associated with inhibiting apoptosis.