Protective effects of Aronia melanocarpa extract on the astrocytes in the in vitro model of Parkinson's disease

摘要: Introduction Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorders in the world and astrocytes are indicated to have a significant role in its pathogenesis. Previous studies have shown that pre-treatment of primary mouse astrocytes with extracts of Aronia melanocarpa (chokeberry) have positive effects on their survival upon exposure to 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), mitochondrial toxin commonly used for in vitro and in vivo PD modelling. In this study, we wanted to determine the underlying mechanisms of these protective effects by studying the expression of different stress, inflammation, and neurotrophic factors. Materials and methods Experiments were performed on primary mouse astrocytes, grown in 6-well plates until confluent, and either pre-treated or not treated with aronia extracts (100 µg/ml) for 24 h. 6-OHDA (120 µM) was added to the cell culture medium and incubated for either 24 h or 72 h, at which time points cells were collected for western blot analyses. For control group, non-treated, non-injured astrocytes were used. Results In this study, we found no significant changes in the expression of inflammatory and stress related proteins between pre-treated and untreated groups at 24 h time point, while the analyses on cells collected after 72 h incubation showed significant differences in the expression of several proteins related to antioxidative defenses of the tested plant extract. Conclusion The results of our study could provide an insight into the potential mechanism of protective effects of Aronia melanocarpa on astrocytes in an in vitro PD model, but further research is still needed.