8-O-acetyl shanzhiside methylester attenuates apoptosis and ameliorates mitochondrial energy metabolism in rat cortical neurons exposed to oxygen–glucose deprivation

8-O-acetyl shanzhiside methylester (ND01), an iridoid glucoside compound, was isolated from the leaves of Lamiophlomis rotata (Benth.) Kudo. The present study elucidated the effects of ND01 on the cultured rat cortical neuron injury induced by oxygen–glucose deprivation. The results showed that ND01 treatment obviously attenuated apoptosis and ameliorated mitochondrial energy metabolism in rat cortical neurons by increasing cell survival rate, mitochondrial respiratory enzyme activities, mitochondrial respiratory control ratio and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content, and by attenuating lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage, intracellular Ca2+ level and caspase-3 activity in a concentration-dependent manner. These findings indicated that ND01 has potential against cerebral ischemic injury, and its protective effect on oxygen–glucose deprivation-induced injury might be due to the suppression of intracellular Ca2+ elevation and caspase-3 activity, and improvement of mitochondrial energy metabolism.