Salsolinol induced apoptotic changes in neural stem cells: Amelioration by neurotrophin support

► Salsolinol, a neurotoxin implicated in Parkinson's disease was found to exhibit profound effect on NSCs. ► NSCs undergo substantial morphological changes, cytotoxicity and functional impairment on exposure to salsolinol. ► Molecular mechanism showed activation of apoptosis/impairment of PI3K/Akt survival signaling. ► SAL mediated toxicity was counteracted on multiple neurotrophin support.