Background
Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's. The drugs currently used to treat PD cannot inhibit the development of PD, and long-term use produces severe drug resistance and adverse reaction. Artemisinin (ART) is an active ingredient of Artemisia annua and has a neuroprotective effect, but the mechanism is still unclear. This study was designed to investigate the neuroprotective effect of ART in MPP+-treated SH-SY5Y cells.
Results
There was no significant cytotoxicity when the ART concentration was under. 40 µM. The 20 µM ART for 24 h could increase the cell viability by reducing oxidative stress and cell apoptosis in MPP+-treated SH-SY5Y cell. In addition, immunoblot and immunofluorescence results showed that MPP+ treatment increased the expression of Beclin1, LC3II/LC3I and decreased the expression of P62, while ART can reverse the changes caused by MPP+.
Discussion
More and more researches reported that ART and its derivates have neuroprotective effects through anti-oxidant and anti-apoptosis. we found that pre-treated cells with 20 µM ART for 4 h could significantly increase the viability in Parkinson's disease cell model. The oxidative stress and apoptosis were the main reason for the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons, while artemisinin can attenuate oxidative stress and apoptosis in MPP+-lesioned dopaminergic neurons. The levels of autophagy proteins LC3II/I, Beclin1 and P62 also showed that MPP + increased the autophagy level, and pre-treatment with ART decreased the autophagy level, which may be the pathological mechanism for artemisinin to reduce oxidative stress damage and apoptosis.
Conclusions
These results indicate that ART exerts a positive effect on MPP+-treated SH-SY5Y cells in terms of anti-oxidative stress and anti-apoptosis. These effects may be related to autophagy. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the critical role of ART in PD treatment.