Moracenin D from Mori Cortex Radicis Protects SH‐SY5Y Cells against Dopamine‐induced Cell Death by Regulating Nurr1 and α‐Synuclein Expression

Abstract

In our efforts to find neuroprotective materials of plant origin, several compounds were isolated from Mori Cortex Radicis. The protective effect against dopamine-induced cell death was examined, and the subsequent effects on the levels of expression of Parkinson's disease-associated nurr1 and α-synuclein were evaluated in a dopamine-induced system. Five compounds were isolated and moracenin D protected cell death against dopamine-induction in human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. The effects of moracenin D on the levels of mRNA and protein expression of nurr1 and α-synuclein were subsequently examined using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot analysis. Treatment with moracenin D resulted in an up-regulation of nurr1 mRNA levels and a down-regulation of α-synuclein mRNA levels. Additionally, the α-synuclein protein expression was decreased in accordance with an increase in nurr1 protein expression. These results demonstrate that the protective effects of moracenin D were presumably due to the correlative effects on the up-regulation of nurr1 and down-regulation of α-synuclein expressions against dopamine induction. Therefore, moracenin D can be considered as a candidate for therapy for Parkinson's disease.