title: Geniposide prevents rotenone-induced apoptosis in primary cultured neurons.
abstract: Geniposide, a monomer extracted from gardenia and widely used in Chinese medicine, is a novel agonist at the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor. This receptor is involved in neuroprotection. In the present study, we sought to identify an anti-apoptotic mechanism for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Primary cultured neurons were treated with different concentrations of rotenone for 48 hours. Morphological observation, cell counting kit-8 assay, lactate dehydrogenase detection and western blot assay demonstrated that 0.5 nM rotenone increased lactate dehydrogenase release, decreased the expression of procaspase-3 and Bcl-2, and increased cleaved caspase-3 expression in normal neurons. All these effects were prevented by geniposide. Our results indicate that geniposide diminished rotenone-induced injury in primary neurons by suppressing apoptosis. This may be one of the molecular mechanisms underlying the efficacy of geniposide in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cellular Physiology, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cellular Physiology, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cellular Physiology, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Second Hospital, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China.
authors.forename: Guang-Lai
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Second Hospital, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Qing
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Second Hospital, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China.
authors.forename: Yue-Ze
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6639-8216
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Liu
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Bcl-2; caspase-3; cell apoptosis; geniposide; nerve regeneration; neural regeneration; rotenone