The protective effect of Lavandula officinalis extract on 6-hydroxydopamine-induced reactive oxygen species and apoptosis in PC12 cells

Introduction Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative desease marked by destruction of dopaminergic neurons. Lavandula officinalis (Lavender) has been widely used in traditional medicine to relieve CNS diseases and mental disorders. In the present study, protective effect of L. officinalis was studied against the 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) in PC12 cell line as a model of PD neural injury. Methods PC12 cells were treated with methanol extract of L. officinalis for 24 h, then they were treated with 6-OHDA (200 μM) for 24 h. The cell viability, the rate of apoptosis, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), and proteins involved in apoptosis were quantified using western blots analysis. Results While 6-OHDA significantly increased cytotoxicity (p Conclusions L. officinalis significantly reduced ROS, cell apoptosis (0.5–5 μg/ml) and Bax/Bcl-2 and pERK/ERK ratio which supports its neuroprotective activities. Therefore, L. officinalis may exert beneficial effect in minimizing the cell injury occurs in neurodegenerative diseases, including PD. Further studies will be required to detect the most potent active neuroprotective components of the extract.