Protective Effect of Resveratrol Against Corticosterone-induced Neurotoxicity in PC12 Cells

OBJECTIVE: Resveratrol(RES) is a natural polyphenol which possesses an anti-depressant effect. However, the mechanisms of its anti-depressant effect remain unclear. The aim of the study is to investigate the potential mechanisms in the neuro-protective efficiency in the corticosterone-induced pheochromacytoma 12 (PC12) cells. METHODS: PC12 cells were treated with 200 μM of corticosterone in the absence or presence of different concentrations of RES for 24 h. Then, cell viability was measured by Cell Counting Kit-8 assay. Apoptosis of PC12 cells was measured by Annexin V-FITC and Propidium iodide (PI) labelling. The expression of apoptosis-related proteins including Bax, Bcl-2, caspase-3 was determined by western blotting. RESULTS: The results showed that treatment with 200 μM of corticosterone induced cytotoxicity in PC12 cells. However, different concentrations of RES (2.5μmol/L, 5μmol/L and 10 μmol/L) significantly increased the cell viability, suppressed the apoptosis of PC12 cells, down-regulated Bax and caspase-3 protein expression, and up-regulated Bcl-2 protein expression, compared to the model group (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Resveratrol has a protective effect on corticosterone-induced neurotoxicity in PC12 cells, which may be related to the apoptosis via inhibition of apoptosis-related proteins and displays the antidepressant-like effect.