Study on tetramethylpyrazine protecting PC12 cell from apoptosis induced by caffeine

Objective To analyze whether tetramethylpyrazine could protect PC12 cell from apoptosis induced by caffeine in order to explore the mechanism of tetramethyipyrazine in the treatment of cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury.Methods After the PC12 cells were cultured by tetramethylpyrazine,caffeine was added to induce the apoptosis of PC12 cells.Various methods,including CCK-8 live cell test,Hoechst-33342 staining,flow cytometry and quantitative reverse transcription/polymerase chain reaction(RTPCR),were used to analyze the mechanisms involved in the process.Result After the pretreatment,tetramethylpyrazine reduced the apoptosis of PC12 cells.The number of PC12 cells increased compared with decreased apoptosis rate.Tetramethylpyrazine could improve the activity of caspase 3,8,9 and the electric potential of mitochondrial membrane and the rate of Bax/Bcl 2 dropped in response to tetra methylpyrazine.Conclusions The pretreatment with tetramethylpyrazine could reduce the apoptosis of PC12 cells damaged by caffeine.