Neuroprotective effects of neolignans isolated from Magnoliae Cortex against glutamate-induced apoptotic stimuli in HT22 cells

In the course of screening for neuroprotective natural products, Magnoliae Cortex showed potent inhibition of hippocampal neuronal HT22 cell death. Obovatol, honokiol, and magnolol were isolated from the ethanolic extract of Magnoliae Cortex. Isolated compounds obovatol, honokiol, and magnolol were protective against 5 mM glutamate-induced cell death. When cells were stressed using glutamate, cell viability decreased to 16.98 ± 4.58% over the control (100.00 ± 10.15%). In contrast, 10 μM obovatol, 10 μM honokiol, and 50 μM magnolol increased cell viability to 91.80 ± 1.70%, 93.59 ± 1.93%, and 85.36 ± 7.40%, respectively. The neuroprotective effects of obovatol and honokiol were attributable to the inhibition of intracellular reactive oxygen species production, followed by protection of the mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨ_m), recovery of Bcl-2 and Bid levels, inhibition of apoptosis-inducing factor expression, and phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases such as p38 kinases, extracellular signal-regulated kinases, and c-Jun N-terminal kinases. On the contrary, magnolol did not show any significant effect on the ΔΨ_m and apoptotic factors. Among three compounds, obovatol most strongly scavenged 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radicals and inhibited the elevation of intracellular reactive oxygen species levels in glutamate-stressed HT22 cells. These data suggest that obovatol and honokiol may have clinical applications for preventing neurodegenerative disorders.