The Protective Effects of Ginsenoside Re from Mptp-Induced Parkinson's Disease C57BL Mice —— Possible Mechanisms of the Protective Effects of Ginsenoside Re on Apoptosis in Substantia Nigra Neurons

AIM:To investigate the role of ginsenoside Re in preventing from 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine(MPTP)-induced apoptosis of the substantia nigra neurons in the mouse model of Parkinson's disease (PD). METHOD: C57BL mice were administrated sc. with MPTP to establish PD model. The pretreatment groups were given different doses of ginsenoside Re (13,26 mg·kg -1) ig. for 13d. Tyrosine hydroxythase (TH) immunostaining and TDT-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling(TUNEL) staining were used to observe the damage of substantia nigral neurons. To detect the expression of Bcl-2,Bax protein the immunohistochemistry was explred.RESULT:Pretreatment with gisenoside Re (13,26 mg·kg -1) was shown to increase TH-positive neurons and decrease the TUNEL-positive ratio.Futhermore,Ginsenoside Re could enhance the expression level of Bcl-2 protein and reduce the expression level of Bax protein. CONCLUSION:Ginsenoside Re showed protective effects on MPTP-induced apoptosis in the PD model mouse nigral neurons and this effect may be attributable to increasing the expression level of Bcl-2 and decreasing the expression level of Bax.