Centella asiatica increases B-cell lymphoma 2 expression in rat prefrontal cortex

Abstract

BACKGROUND Stress is one of the factors that cause apoptosis in neuronal cells. Centella asiatica has a neuroprotective effect that can inhibit apoptosis. This study aimed to examine the effect of Centella asiatica ethanol extract on B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) protein expression in the prefrontal cortex of rats. METHODS An experimental study was conducted on 34 brain tissue samples from male Sprague Dawley rats exposed to chronic restraint stress for 21 days. The samples were taken from following groups: non-stress group K, negative control group P1 (stress + arabic gum powder), P2 (stress + C.asiatica at 150 mg/kgBW), P3 (stress + C.asiatica at 300 mg/kg BW), P4 (stress + C.asiatica at 600 mg/kg body weight) and positive control group P5 (stress + fluoxetine at 10 mg/kgBW). The samples were made into sections that were stained immunohistochemically using Bcl-2 antibody to determine the percentage of cells expressing Bcl-2. Data were analyzed using one way ANOVA test followed by a post - hoc test. RESULTS There were significant differences in mean Bcl-2 expression between the groups receiving Centella asiatica compared with the non-stress group and stress-only group (negative control group) (p<0.05). The results were comparable to those of the fluoxetine treatment group. CONCLUSION The Centella asiatica ethanol extract was able to increase Bcl-2 expression in the prefrontal cortex of Sprague Dawley rats exposed to restraint stress. This study suggests that Centella asiatica may be useful in the treatment of cerebral stress.

Keywords

• centella asiatica
• b-cell lymphoma 2
• prefrontal cortex
• stress
• rats