- P-ISSN 1010-0695
- E-ISSN 2288-3339
Objectives: The amyloid β-protein (Aβ) is the principal component of the senile plaques characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and elicits a toxic effect on neurons in vitro and in vivo. Many environmental factors including antioxidants and proteoglycans modify Aβ toxicity. In this study, we have investigated the protective effects of water- and organic solvent-extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root fractions pre-extracted with methanol on Aβ-induced oxidative cell death in cultured rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells. Methods: For this study, we used MTT reduction assay for detection of protective effects of water- and organic solvent-extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root fractions pre-extracted with methanol on Aβ25-35-induced cytotoxicity to PC12 cells. We also used cell-based β-secretase assay system to investigate the inhibitory effect of water- and organic solvent-extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root on β-secretase activity. Results: We previously reported that methanol extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root strongly attenuated cytotoxicity induced by the three Aβ fragments (Aβ25-35, Aβ1-42 Aβ1-43) to both SK-N-MC and PC12 cells. In the present study, we found that butanol-, ethylacetate-, chloroform-, and water-extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root fractions pre-extracted with methanol had the strong protective effects against Aβ25-35-induced cytotoxicity to PC12 cells and inhibitory potency to β-secretase activity. Conclusion: These results suggest that butanol-, ethylacetate-, chloroform-, and water-extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root fractions pre-extracted with methanol may contain the protective component(s) against Aβ-induced cell death in PC12 cells as well as inhibitory component(s) to β-secretase activity.