Search

Objective To investigate the neuroprotective effect of ginsenoside Rd (GSRd) on glutamate-induced spinal cord motoneuron injury in vitro. Methods The spinal cord motoneurons obtained from embryonic 15 days SD rats were cultured for 6 days, and then randomly assigned into four groups as follows. Control: no treatment; Glu: glutamate 300μmol/L was added to the spinal cord neurons; GSRd+Glu: the spinal cord neurons was pretreated with 10μmol/L GSRd for 30min, and then glutamate 300μmol/L was added to the spinal cord neurons; Vehicle+Glu: the spinal cord neurons was pretreated with propylene glycol at the same volume as that used for GSRd, and then glutamate 300μmol/L was added to the spinal cord neurons. After the cultures were incubated with glutamate for 24h, the motor neurons were counted and observed for morphology and growth under phase-contrast microscope; the neuron viability was determined by methyl thiazolyl terazolium assay (MTT) assay; the activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leaked into the culture medium also was measured. Results There were less living spinal motor neurons and neuronal processes in Glu group than in GSRd+Glu group. The nervous cells were severely damaged in Glu group, while the dead cells were very few in GSRd+Glu group. The neuronal morphology in Vehicle+Glu group was similar to that in Glu group. The survival rates of spinal motor neurons were 22.7%±2.3% and 23.6%±2.1% in Glu group and Vehicle+Glu group respectively and significantly lower than those in control group (100%±0%, P < 0.05) and GSRd+Glu group (58.6%±2.3%, P < 0.05), while there was no statistical difference between Glu group and Vehicle+Glu group and between control and GSRd+Glu groups (P>0.05). The LDH activity in the culture supernatant was 142.50±3.55 and 139.20±2.75U/L respectively in Glu and Vehicle+Glu, which were significantly higher than those in control group (42.3±3.6U/L, P < 0.05) and GSRd+Glu (84.2±2.5U/L, P < 0.05), but there wasn't significant difference between Glu and Vehivle+Glu groups and between control and GSRd+Glu groups (P>0.05). Conclusion GSRd has neuroprotective effect on spinal cord motoneurons from glutamate-induced injury in vitro.