Chinese Medicine PaBing-II Protects Human iPSC Derived Dopaminergic Neurons from Oxygen Stress

Abstract

BackgroundPaBing-II Formula (PB-II) is a traditional Chinese medicine developed to treat Parkinson's disease (PD). However, due to the complexity of PB-II and the difficulty of culturing human dopaminergic neurons (DAn) in vitro, the mechanism of PB-II to treat PD remains unclear. MethodsWe established the human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and derived DAn from hiPSCs to study the protective effects of PB-II on DAn after oxidative stress, which plays an important role in PD pathogenesis. ResultsWe found that serum derived from rats that had ingested PB-II significantly protect hiPSC-derived DAn from reactive oxygen species (ROS). In addition, PB-II dependent serum can activate nuclear erythroid-derived factor 2 (Nrf2) responses, which are required for the neutralization of ROS. In addition, PB-II can activate the Nrf2/ARE signal pathway of midbrain dopaminergic neurons of PD rats induced with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) injury, rescue DAn cells, and improve the symptoms of PD rats. ConclusionsPB-II significantly protects the DA neurons from oxidative stress by activating the Nrf2 pathway.