Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROCHEMISTRY
Volume 106, Issue 5, Pages 2194-2204Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2008.05542.x
Keywords
Alzheimer's disease; flavonoids; neuroprotection; nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor; oxidative stress; phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase
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Funding
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [D20463] Funding Source: Medline
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [D20463] Funding Source: researchfish
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Flavonoids are plant-derived polyphenolic compounds with neuroprotective properties. Recent work suggests that, in addition to acting as hydrogen donors, they activate protective signalling pathways. The anti-oxidant response element (ARE) promotes the expression of protective proteins including those required for glutathione synthesis (xCT cystine antiporter, gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase and glutathione synthase). The use of a luciferase reporter (ARE-luc) assay showed that the dietary flavan-3-ol (-)epicatechin activates this pathway in primary cortical astrocytes but not neurones. We also examined the distribution of NF-E2-related factor-2 (Nrf2), a key transcription factor in ARE-mediated gene expression. We found, using immunocytochemistry, that Nrf2 accumulated in the nuclei of astrocytes following exposure to tert-butylhydroquinone (100 mu M) and (-)epicatechin (100 nM). (-)Epicatechin signalling via Nrf2 was inhibited by wortmannin implicating a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-dependent pathway. Finally, (-)epicatechin increased glutathione levels in astrocytes consistent with an up-regulation of ARE-mediated gene expression. Together, this suggests that flavonoids may be cytoprotective by increasing anti-oxidant gene expression.
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