[Neurotrophic effects of senegenin].

OBJECTIVE: To study the neurotrophic effects of senegenin on the expression of MAP2 mRNA and BDNF mRNA in cultured cerebral cortical neurons. METHODS: The newborn rat cerebral cortex neurons were cultured in vitro. LDH assay was used to investigate the effect of senegenin on the neuronal viability and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was carried out to determine the expression level of MAP2 mRNA and BDNF mRNA. RESULTS: LDH assay showed that senegenin at the concentration of 0. 5 micromol/L,1 micromol/L and 2 micromol/L could obviously enhance the survival of cells and the survival rates were in dose-dependent manner to some extent. Moreover, the low, medium and high concentrations of senegenin significantly increased the expression of MAP2 mRNA and BDNF mRNA. CONCLUSION: The study suggests that suitable dose of senegenin can increase the expression of MAP2 mRNA and BDNF mRNA in cultured cerebral cortical neurons, and its mechanism needs further study.