Dehydrocostuslactone attenuated oxygen and glucose deprivation/reperfusion-induced PC12 cell injury through inhibition of apoptosis and autophagy by activating the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway

The purpose of this study is to investigate the protective effect of dehydrocostuslactone (DHL) on PC12 cells injury induced by oxygen and glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/R) and its possible mechanism on the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. The maestro 11.1 software was used to predict the binding sites of DHL with LC3, Beclin-1, PI3K, AKT, mTOR, Bax, Bcl-2, Caspase-3, Caspase-9, and Caspase-7. We used a cellular model of 2 h of OGD and 24 h of reperfusion to mimic cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. Cells were treated with DHL during the reperfusion phase. The docking results showed that DHL had binding sites with LC3, Beclin-1, PI3K, AKT, mTOR, Bax, Bcl-2, Caspase-3, Caspase-9, and Caspase-7. The expression levels of autophagy-related proteins, LC3 and Beclin-1 increased while P-PI3K, P-AKT, and P-mTOR decreased. Apoptosis-related proteins, namely, Bax, Cyto-c, Caspase-3, Caspase-7, Caspase-9 increased, but the anti-apoptosis Bcl-2 protein decreased. However, DHL effectively inhibited these undesirable changes induced by OGD/R in PC12 cells. Our results suggested that DHL attenuated OGD/R-induced neuronal injury by inhibiting apoptosis and autophagy by activating PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling. This inhibition can improve cell survival and offer evidence for the beneficial effects of DHL on the nervous system.