Quercetin alleviates high glucose-induced Schwann cell damage by autophagy

Quercetin can reverse high glucose-induced inhibition of neural cell proliferation, and therefore may have a neuroprotective effect in diabetic peripheral neuropathy. It is difficult to obtain pri- mary Schwann cells and RSC96 cells could replace primary Schwann cells in studies of the role of autophagy in the mechanism underlying diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Here, we show that under high glucose conditions, there are fewer autophagosomes in immortalized rat RSC96 cells and primary rat Schwann ceils than under control conditions, the proliferative activity of both cell types is significantly impaired, and the expression of Berlin- 1 and LC3, the molecular mark- ers for autophagy, is significantly lower. After intervention with quercetin, the autophagic and proliferative activity of both cell types is rescued. These results suggest that quercetin can allevi- ate high glucose-induced damage to Schwann cells by autophagy.