Ferulic acid mitigates H2O2-induced oxidative stress by hindering the activity of reactive oxygen species and programmed cell death in rat PC12 cells

Introduction:Oxidative stress (OS) is related to the onset and development of different disorders including neurodegenerative diseases.Attenuation of OS may be an appropriate way to combat such a situation.Ferulic acid (FA) as a natural antioxidant compound has been shown to have potent free radical scavenging activity.Hence, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of FA to inhibit the intrinsic apoptosis pathway evoked by H 2 O 2 in rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells.Methods: PC12 cells were treated with various concentrations of FA at different times.Then, H 2 O 2 (300 M for 2h) was added.Afterward, cell viability was assessed by MTT assay followed by determining the levels of total antioxidant power (TAP), and malondialdehyde (MDA) level.The protein expressions of Caspase-3, Bax, and Bcl-2 were also measured by western blotting.Results: Current results indicate that after 72 hours, FA significantly protected PC12 cells against H 2 O 2 -induced damage by reducing the generation of MDA levels as well as increasing TAP.H 2 O 2 -induced caspase-3 overexpression and the increase of the Bax/BCL-2 protein ratio were also diminished by FA treatment.Conclusion: Taken together, FA may be considered a protective agent to prevent or postpone the progression of oxidative neurodegenerative diseases through its anti-oxidant and anti-apoptotic effects.