Protective effects of ligustrazine against photoreceptor cell injury induced by N-methyl-N-nitrosourea and its mechanism.
- Author:
Jin-nan YANG
1
;
Jian-gong XU
;
Jin-mao CHEN
;
Shao-chun LIN
;
Lin LUO
;
Shi-xing HU
Author Information
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- MeSH: Animals; Apoptosis; drug effects; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Female; Genes, fos; Genes, jun; Injections, Intraperitoneal; Ligusticum; chemistry; Methylnitrosourea; Photoreceptor Cells; drug effects; Photoreceptor Cells, Vertebrate; drug effects; pathology; Plants, Medicinal; chemistry; Protective Agents; administration & dosage; pharmacology; Pyrazines; administration & dosage; isolation & purification; pharmacology; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Retina; metabolism; pathology
- From: Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica 2005;40(8):690-694
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
AIMTo study the protective effect of ligustrazine against photoreceptor cell injury induced by N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats.
METHODSLigustrazine injections of different doses were injected intraperitoneally into 47-day female SD rats once a day and a single intraperitoneal injection of MNU 60 mg x kg(-1) was given to 50-day rats. At different intervals after MNU treatment,the animals were sacrificed. The apoptotic index of photoreceptor cells was calculated by TUNEL labeling at 24 h following MNU treatment; peripheral retinal damage was evaluated based on retinal thickness at the d 7 after MNU treatment, and the expression of c-jun and c-fos genes was detected by RT-PCR technique.
RESULTSLigustrazine injection could remarkably increase total thickness of peripheral retina and decrease apoptotic index of photoreceptor cells induced by MNU in a dose-dependent manner. Compared with MNU-treated rats, the gene expression of c-jun and c-fos was time-dependently down-regulated in ligustrazine-treated group.
CONCLUSIONLigustrazine injection partially protects against MNU-induced retinal damage by down-modulating the expression of c-jun and c-fos genes to inhibit apoptosis of photoreceptor cells.
