The effects of ethanolic extract of Okra fruit, Abelmoschus Esculentus (L.) Moench on cellular senescence in aging neuron

Abstract

Cellular senescence is characterized by morphological and metabolic changes with emerging neurodegeneration. Recently, senescence has been described as having excessive amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and over-activation of senescence associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) prior mediated loss of synaptic plasticity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effects of ethanolic extract of Okra fruit (OKR) on neuronal aging. SK-N-SH cells were pre-incubated with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for 4 h and then treated with 10, 25, 50, or 75 µg/mL OKR for 24 h. The results demonstrated that OKR significantly promoted cell viability with reduction of ROS content and SA-β-gal positive cells. Additionally, the synaptic plasticity was also improved by inhibiting the AChE activity in OKR administration compared to aging neurons. Interestingly, the OKR was comparable to N-acetylcysteine (NAC). Hence, we propose that OKR could alleviate the negative responses to aging in neurons.

Keywords

• antioxidant
• cellular senescence
• cellular dysfunction
• neurodegeneration
• okra fruit