Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Neuroprotective and Antioxidative Effect of Cactus Polysaccharides In Vivo and In Vitro

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Cactus polysaccharides (CP), some of the active components in Opuntia dillenii Haw have been reported to display neuroprotective effects in rat brain slices. In the present study, we investigated the neuroprotective properties of CP and their potential mechanisms on brain ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats, and on oxidative stress-induced damage in PC12 cells. Male Sprague–Dawley rats with ischemia following middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion were investigated. CP (200 mg/kg) significantly decreased the neurological deficit score, reduced infarct volume, decreased neuronal loss in cerebral cortex, and remarkably reduced the protein synthesis of inducible nitric oxide synthase which were induced by ischemia and reperfusion. Otherwise, the protective effect of CP was confirmed in in vitro study. CP protected PC12 cells against hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) insult. Pretreatment with CP prior to H2O2 exposure significantly elevated cell viability, reduced H2O2-induced apoptosis, and decreased both intracellular and total accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Furthermore, CP also reversed the upregulation of Bax/Bcl-2 mRNA ratio, the downstream cascade following ROS. These results suggest that CP may be a candidate compound for the treatment of ischemia and oxidative stress-induced neurodegenerative disease.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aravind L, Dixit VM, Koonin EV (1999) The domains of death: evolution of the apoptosis machinery. Trends Biochem Sci 24:47–53. doi:10.1016/S0968-0004(98)01341-3

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Banfi B, Molnar G, Maturana A, Steger K, Hegedûs B, Demaurex N, Krause KH (2001) A Ca (2+)—activated NADPH oxidase in testis, spleen, and lymph nodes. J Biol Chem 276(40):37594–37601. doi:10.1074/jbc.M103034200

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barnham KJ, Masters CL, Bush AI (2004) Neurodegenerative diseases and oxidative stress. Nat Rev Drug Discov 3:205–214. doi:10.1038/nrd1330

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Benedi J, Arroyo R, Romero C, Martín-Aragón S, Villar AM (2004) Antioxidant properties and protective effects of a standardized extract of Hypericum perforatum on hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative damage in PC12 cells. Life Sci 75:1263–1276. doi:10.1016/j.lfs.2004.05.001

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boldogh I, Kruzel ML (2008) Colostrinintrade mark: an oxidative stress modulator for prevention and treatment of age-related disorders. J Alzheimers Dis 13:303–321

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bras M, Queenan B, Susin SA (2005) Programmed cell death via mitochondria: different modes of dying. Biochemistry (Mosc) 70:231–239. doi:10.1007/s10541-005-0105-4

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen J, Zhao T, Huang D (2009) Protective effects of edaravone against cobalt chloride-induced apoptosis in PC12 cells. Neurosci Bull 25(2):67–74. doi:10.1007/s12264-009-1215-6

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Christopherson KS, Bredt DS (1997) Nitric oxide in excitable tissues: physiological roles and disease. J Clin Invest 100(10):2424–2429. doi:10.1172/JCI119783

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Colasanti M, Suzuki H (2000) The dual personality of NO. Trends Pharmacol Sci 21:249–252. doi:10.1016/S0165-6147(00)01499-1

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Feugang JM, Konarski P, Zou DM, Stintzing FC, Zou CP (2006) Nutritional and medicinal use of Cactus pear (Opuntia spp.) cladodes and fruits. Front Biosci 11:2574–2589. doi:10.2741/1992

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Finkel T, Holbrook NJ (2000) Oxidants, oxidative stress and the biology of aging. Nature 408:239–247. doi:10.1038/35041687

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ginsberg MD, Busto R (1989) Rodent models of cerebral ischemia. Stroke 20:1627–1642

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guo Y, Li P, Yuan H (2008) Relationship between effects of ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides on learning and memory in Alzheimer s disease rats and apoptosis of hippocampus cells. Chinese J Anat 31(3):376–393

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Halliwell B, Gutteridge JMC (1999) Hydrogen peroxide. In: Halliwell B, Gutteridge JMC (eds) Free radical in biology and medicine. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 82–83

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiroia M, Ogiharaa T, Hiranoa K, Hasegawaa M, Morinobua T, Tamaia H, Niki E (2005) Regulation of apoptosis by glutathione redox state in PC12 cells exposed simultaneously to iron and ascorbic acid. Free Radic Biol Med 38:1057–1072. doi:10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2005.01.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hou WC, Hsu FL, Lee MH (2002) Yam (Dioscorea batatas) tuber mucilage exhibited antioxidant activities in vitro. Planta Med 68:1072–1076. doi:10.1055/s-2002-36356

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Huang X, Li Q, Guo L, Yan Z (2008a) Protection of cactus polysaccharides against H2O2-induced damage in the rat cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Neural Regen Res 3(1):14–18

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huang X, Li Q, Zhang Y, Lü Q, Guo L, Huang L, He Z (2008b) Neuroprotective effects of cactus polysaccharide on oxygen and glucose deprivation induced damage in rat brain slices. Cell Mol Neurobiol 28(4):559–568. doi:10.1007/s10571-007-9184-7

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Iadecola C, Zhang F, Casey R, Clark HB, Ross ME (1996) Inducible nitric oxide synthase gene expression in vascular cells after transient focal cerebral ischemia. Stroke 27(8):1373–1380

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kenneth JL, Thomas D (2001) Analysis of relative gene expression data using real-time quantitative PCR and 2−△△Ct method. Methods 25:402–408. doi:10.1006/meth.2001.1262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuroda S, Siesjo BK (1997) Reperfusion damage following focal ischemia: pathophysiology and therapeutic windows. Clin Neurosci 4:199–212

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lee JC, Kim HR, Kim J, Jang YS (2002) Antioxidant property of an ethanol extract of the stem of Opuntia ficus-indica var. saboten. J Agric Food Chem 50:6490–6496. doi:10.1021/jf020388c

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Li Q, Huang XJ, He W, Ding J, Jia JT, Fu G, Wang HX, Guo LJ (2009) Neuroprotective potential of Fasudil Mesylate in brain ischemia-reperfusion injury of rats. Cell Mol Neurobiol 29(2):169–180

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Longa EZ, Weinstein PR, Carlson S, Cummins R (1989) Reversible middle cerebral artery occlusion without craniectomy in rats. Stroke 20:84–91

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lopez AD (1995) Review: use of the fruits and stems of the prickly pear cactus (Opuntia spp.) into human food. Food Sci Technol Int 1:65–74. doi:10.1177/108201329500100202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu ZL, Feng Y, Xu DS, Lin X (2008) Distribution of polysaccharide MDG- 1 after single intravenous dose in rats. Her Med 27(5):497–500

    Google Scholar 

  • Moon JH, Kim SY, Lee HG, Kim SU, Lee YB (2008) Activation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor prevents the production of reactive oxygen species in fibrillar beta amyloid peptide (1–42)-stimulated microglia. Exp Mol Med 40:11–18. doi:10.3858/emm.2008.40.1.11

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Morton JF (1990) Mucilaginous plants and their uses in medicine. J Ethnopharmacol 29:245–266. doi:10.1016/0378-8741(90)90036-S

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O’Donnell ME, Tran L, Lam TI, Liu XB, Anderson SE (2004) Bumetanide inhibition of the blood-brain barrier Na-K-Cl cotransporter reduces edema formation in the rat middle cerebral artery occlusion model of stroke. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 24:1046–1056. doi:10.1097/01.WCB.0000130867.32663.90

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Olanow CW (1992) An introduction to free radical hypothesis in Parkinson’s disease. Ann Neurol 32:S2–S9. doi:10.1002/ana.410320703

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Park EH, Kahng JH, Lee SH, Shin KH (2001) An anti-inflammatory principle from cactus. Fitoterapia 72:288–290. doi:10.1016/S0367-326X(00)00287-2

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Qian YF, Wang HW, Yao WB, Gao XD (2008) Aqueous extract of the Chinese medicine, Danggui-Shaoyao-San, inhibits apoptosis in hydrogen peroxide-induced PC12 cells by preventing cytochrome c release and inactivating of caspase cascade. Cell Biol Int 32(2):304–311

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Qin C, Huang K, Xu H (2002) Protective effect of polysaccharide from the loach on the in vitro and in vivo peroxidative damage of hepatocyte. J Nutr Biochem 13:592–597. doi:10.1016/S0955-2863(02)00193-6

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rajesh KG, Sasaguri S, Suzuki R, Maeda H (2003) Antioxidant MCI-186 inhibits mitochondrial permeability transition pore and upregulates Bcl-2 expression. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 285(5):H2171–H2178

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ravni A, Bourgault S, Lebon A, Chan P, Galas L, Fournier A, Vaudry H, Gonzalez B, Eiden LE, Vaudry D (2006) The neurotrophic effects of PACAP in PC12 cells: control by multiple transduction pathways. J Neurochem 98:321–329. doi:10.1111/j.1471-4159.2006.03884.x

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rodrigues ML, Nimrichter L, Oliveira DL, Frases S, Miranda K, Zaragoza O, Alvarez M, Nakouzi A, Feldmesser M, Casadevall A (2007) Vesicular polysaccharide export in Cryptococcus neoformans is a eukaryotic solution to the problem of fungal trans-cell wall transport. Eukaryot Cell 6(1):48–59. doi:10.1128/EC.00318-06

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rook GA, Steele J, Umar S, Dockrell HM (1985) A simple method for the solubilisation of reduced NBT, and its use as a colorimetric assay for activation of human macrophages by gamma-interferon. J Immunol Methods 82(1):161–167. doi:10.1016/0022-1759(85)90235-2

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schepetkin IA, Xie G, Kirpotina LN, Klein RA, Jutila MA, Quinn MT (2008) Macrophage immunomodulatory activity of polysaccharides isolated from Opuntia polyacantha. Int Immunopharmacol 8(10):1455–1466. doi:10.1016/j.intimp.2008.06.003

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shang P, Qian AR, Yang TH, Jia M, Mei QB, Cho CH, Zhao WM, Chen ZN (2003) Experimental study of anti-tumor effects of polysaccharides from Angelica sinensis. World J Gastroenterol 9(9):1963–1967

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spanos S, Rice S, Karagiannis P, Taylor D, Becker DL, Winston RML, Hardy K (2002) Caspase activity and expression of cell death genes during development of human preimplantation embryos. Reproduction 124:353–363. doi:10.1530/rep.0.1240353

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stintzing FC, Carle R (2005) Cactus stems (Opuntia spp.): a review on their chemistry, technology, and uses. Mol Nutr Food Res 49:175–194. doi:10.1002/mnfr.200400071

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Suuronen OT, Kolehmainen P, Salminen A (2000) Protective effect of l-deprenyl against apoptosis induced by okadaic acid in cultured neuronal cells. Biochem Pharmacol 59:1589–1595. doi:10.1016/S0006-2952(00)00282-3

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Swanson RA, Morton MT, Tsao-Wu G, Savalos RA, Davidson C, Sharp FR (1990) A semiautomated method for measuring brain infarct volume. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 10:290–293

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vaudry D, Chen Y, Hsu CM, Eiden LE (2002) PC12 cells as a model to study the neurotrophic activities of PACAP. Ann N Y Acad Sci 971:491–496

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang H, Joseph JA (1999) Quantifying cellular oxidative stress by dichlorofluorescein assay using microplate reader. Free Radic Biol Med 27(5–6):612–616. doi:10.1016/S0891-5849(99)00107-0

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watanabe T, Tahara M, Todo S (2008) The novel antioxidant edaravone: from bench to bedside. Cardiovasc ther 26(2):101–114

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the national Foundation of Nature and Science of China (No. 30171082 and No. 30772559).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hangkong Road 13#, 430030, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China

    Xianju Huang, Qin Li & Lianjun Guo

  2. College of Pharmacy, South-Central University for Nationalities, 430074, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China

    Xianju Huang

  3. Department of Pharmacology, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany

    Huige Li

Authors
  1. Xianju Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Qin Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Huige Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Lianjun Guo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lianjun Guo.

Additional information

X.-J. Huang and Q. Li contribute equally to the paper.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Huang, X., Li, Q., Li, H. et al. Neuroprotective and Antioxidative Effect of Cactus Polysaccharides In Vivo and In Vitro. Cell Mol Neurobiol 29, 1211–1221 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10571-009-9417-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10571-009-9417-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation