Aged garlic extract and its components protect cultured rat hippocampal neurons from amyloid β—protein—in—duced neuronal death

Aged garlic extract and its components such as S-allyl-L-cysteine (SAC) and sllixin have been shown to possess various biological effects including neurotrophic activity.We characterized the neuronal death induced by amyloid β-protein (Aβ),4-hydroxynoenal (HNE),tunicamycin(TM),and trophic factor-deprivation (TFD),and ivestigated whether these garlic compounds could prevent this in cultured PC12 cells and rat hippocampal neurons.Treatment with SAC protected these cells against Aβ- and TM-induced neuronal death.SAC also attenuated the processing of procaspase-12 induced by Aβ25-35 or TM.In contrast,allixin and its analogue,DHP,afforded no protection against Aβ-induced cell death.SAC afforded no protection against HNE- and TFD-induced cell death,which has been shown to be mediated by caspase-3 dependent pathway.These results suggest that SAC protect against the neuronal cell death that is triggered by ER dysfunction.