Potential protection of green tea polyphenols against intracellular amyloid beta-induced toxicity on primary cultured prefrontal cortical neurons of rats

The present study was performed to explore the effect of green tea polyphenols on the intracellular Aβ (iAβ)-induced toxicity to cultured rat primary prefrontal cortical neurons. Administration of 100 nM, 1 μM or 10 μM of green tea polyphenols significantly inhibited the iAβ-induced toxicity to cultured rat primary prefrontal cortical neurons tested by MTT and LDH release assays. We further studied the involvement of neuroprotective pathway protein AKT in green tea polyphenols protection against iAβ-induced cytotoxicity on cultured rat primary prefrontal cortical neurons. The results demonstrated that the content of p-AKT decreased significantly after iAβ treatment, while administration of green tea polyphenols significantly inhibited the iAβ-induced decrease in the content of p-AKT. Moreover, blockade of AKT signalling inhibited the protective effects of green tea polyphenols against iAβ-induced neurotoxicity. The results suggest that green tea polyphenols may play a protective effect on cultured rat primary prefrontal cortical neurons against iAβ-induced cytotoxicity and AKT is involved in the green tea polyphenols-induced protective effects.

► Green tea polyphenols inhibited Aβ-induced toxicity to rat prefrontal cortical neurons.
► Green tea polyphenols inhibited the iAβ-induced decrease in the content of p-AKT.
► AKT is involved in the protective effects of green tea polyphenols.