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Inhibition of Autophagy is Involved in the Protective Effects of Ginsenoside Rb1 on Spinal Cord Injury

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Abstract

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating neurological disorder. Autophagy is induced and plays a crucial role in SCI. Ginsenoside Rb1 (Rb1), one of the major active components extracted from Panax Ginseng CA Meyer, has exhibited neuroprotective effects in various neurodegenerative diseases. However, it remains unknown whether autophagy is involved in the neuroprotection of Rb1 on SCI. In this study, we examined the regulation of autophagy following Rb1 treatment and its involvement in the Rb1-induced neuroprotection in SCI and in vitro injury model. Firstly, we found that Rb1 treatment decreased the loss of motor neurons and promoted function recovery in the SCI model. Furthermore, we found that Rb1 treatment inhibited autophagy in neurons, and suppressed neuronal apoptosis and autophagic cell death in the SCI model. Finally, in the in vitro injury model, Rb1 treatment increased the viability of PC12 cells and suppressed apoptosis by inhibiting excessive autophagy, whereas stimulation of autophagy by rapamycin abolished the anti-apoptosis effect of Rb1. Taken together, these findings suggest that the inhibition of autophagy is involved in the neuroprotective effects of Rb1 on SCI.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (81571190, 81371350, 31671071), and Foundation of Zhejiang Educational Committee (Y201636785).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Spine Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325035, Zhejiang, China

    Peng Wang, Chaowei Lin, Shiyang Wu, Kelun Huang, Yu Wang & Honglin Teng

  2. Institute of Neuroscience and Institute of Hypoxia Medicine, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325035, Zhejiang, China

    Peng Wang, Shiyang Wu, Xiaomei Bao, Fan Zhang & Zhihui Huang

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  1. Peng Wang
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  2. Chaowei Lin
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Correspondence to Zhihui Huang or Honglin Teng.

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10571_2017_527_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Supplementary material 1 (TIFF 1542 kb) Supplementary Fig. 1 Rb1 downregulates autophagy in PC12 cells after scratch injury. a Representative phase-contrast microscopic images of scratch-wound PC12 cells at 6, 12, and 24 h. Scale bars are 50 μm. c The wound closure rate of scratch-wound PC12 cells at 6, 12, and 24 h. b Immunofluorescent staining of LC3 (Green), while the nuclei are labeled with DAPI (blue). Scale bars are 10 μm. d Fluorescence intensity of LC3 signal. Data are mean ± SD, n = 3 per group. * P < 0.05 versus control group. “※” represents the scratch injury region

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Wang, P., Lin, C., Wu, S. et al. Inhibition of Autophagy is Involved in the Protective Effects of Ginsenoside Rb1 on Spinal Cord Injury. Cell Mol Neurobiol 38, 679–690 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10571-017-0527-8

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