Study of the Protective Effects of Seven Iranian Medicinal Plant Extracts against Beta-Amyloid Induced Cytotoxicity in PC12 Cells

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia in the elderly. One of the major pathological hallmarks of AD is extracellular deposition of aggregated beta-amyloid (Aβ) peptide in the brain. Aβ causes neural cell death through several mechanisms. New treatments for AD focus on compounds that can modify disease progression and reduce symptoms through several mechanisms. Medicinal plants include several compounds with heterogeneous pharmacological effects that can be effective in the treatment of AD through different mechanisms. The aim of this study is to evaluate the protective effect of a methanolic extract of seven medicinal plants from Iran on Aβ induced toxicity in a cell culture model.
We cultured PC12 cells according to standard protocols. The cells were incubated with Aβ alone or with different concentrations of extracts for 24 hours. Cell viability was measured using the MTT assay.
Sanguisorba minor, Cerasus microcarpa, Ferulago angulate,andRosa caninasignificantly reduced Aβ-induced cell death in the PC12 cell culture. The observed protective effects of extracts were dose-dependent. We did not observe any protective effects with the Stachys pilifera,Amygdalus scoparia, and Alhagi pseudalhagi extracts.
Sanguisorba minor, Cerasus microcarpa,Ferulago angulate, andRosa canina extracts could be considered for treatment of AD.