Protosappanin B (PTB) is a bioactive dibenzoxocin derivative isolated from Caesalpinia sappan L. Here, we investigated the neuroprotective effects and the potential mechanisms of PTB on oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD)-injured PC12 cells. Results showed that PTB significantly increased cell viability, inhibited cell apoptosis and up-regulated the expression of growth-associated protein 43 (a marker of neural outgrowth). Moreover, our study revealed that PTB effectively maintained mitochondrial homeostasis by up-regulation of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), inhibition of cytochrome c release from mitochondria and inactivation of mitochondrial caspase-9/3 apoptosis pathway. Further study showed that PTB significantly promoted cytoplasmic component degradation of p53 protein, a key negative regulator for mitochondrial function, resulting in a release of Bcl-2 from p53-Bcl-2 complex and an enhancing translocation of Bcl-2 to mitochondrial outer membrane. Finally, we found the degradation of p53 protein was induced by PTB via activation of a MDM2-dependent ubiquitination process. Taken together, our findings provided a new viewpoint of neuronal protection strategy for anoxia and ischemic injury with natural small molecular dibenzoxocin derivative by activating ubiquitin-dependent p53 protein degradation as well as increasing mitochondrial function.
Keywords: Mitochondrial dysfunction; Protosappanin B (PubChem CID: 102036-29-3); Ubiquition-dependent degradation; p53.
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.