Neurogenesis-Promoting Natural Product α-Asarone Modulates Morphological Dynamics of Activated Microglia

Abstract

α-Asarone is an active constituent of Acori Tatarinowii, one of the widely used traditional Chinese Medicine to treat cognitive defect, and recently is shown to promote neurogenesis. Here, we demonstrated that low level (3 μM) of α-asarone attenuated LPS-induced BV2 cell bipolar elongated morphological change, with no significant effect on the LPS-induced pro-inflammatory cytokine expressions. In addition, time-lapse analysis also revealed that α-asarone modulated LPS-induced BV2 morphological dynamics. Consistently a significant reduction in the LPS-induced Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein (MCP-1) mRNA and protein levels was also detected along with the morphological change. Mechanistic study showed that the attenuation effect to the LPS-resulted morphological modulation was also detected in the presence of MCP-1 antibodies or a CCR2 antagonist. This result has also been confirmed in primary cultured microglia. The in vivo investigation provided further evidence that α-asarone reduced the proportion of activated microglia, and reduced microglial tip number and maintained the velocity. Our study thus reveals α-asarone effectively modulates microglial morphological dynamics, and implies this effect of α-asarone may functionally relate to its influence on neurogenesis.

The Essential Oil from Acori Tatarinowii Rhizome (the Dried Rhizome of Acorus tatarinowii Schott) Prevents Hydrogen Peroxide‐Induced Cell Injury in PC12 Cells: A Signaling Triggered by CREB/PGC‐1α Activation

“…erefore, ATEO presents various neurological activities on central nervous system in physiological and pathological conditions. ese activities of ATEO may be relevant to the traditional use of ATR: regaining consciousness, tranquilizing the mind, eliminating dampness, and invigorating the circulation of blood [48].…”

HIV-1 gp120 Upregulates Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) Expression in BV2 Cells via the Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway

“…BV2 cell line was originally generated from primary microglial cell cultures (Blasi et al 1990) and has been used frequently as a substitute for primary microglia (Henn et al 2009). A wealth of evidence has revealed that BV2 cells exhibit many similarities with primary microglia (Cai et al 2016; Crotti et al 2014; Das et al 2016; Henn et al 2009; Kim et al 2003). Therefore, the study presented here suggests that human or rat microglia may have some similarity cell responses to HIV-gp120.…”

The plant natural product 2-methoxy-1,4-naphthoquinone stimulates therapeutic neural repair properties of olfactory ensheathing cells

“…5b). A bipolar cell has a lower Feret ratio than a round cell, and thus, this method can be used to assess the level of polarization (bipolarity) in cells 46 .…”