Pheophytin a, a low molecular weight compound found in the marine brown alga Sargassum fulvellum, promotes the differentiation of PC12 cells |
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Authors: | Atsutoshi Ina Ken-Ichiro Hayashi Hiroshi Nozaki Yuto Kamei |
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Affiliation: | Coastal Bioenvironment Center, Saga University, 152-1 Shonan-cho, Karatsu, Saga 847-0021, Japan. |
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Abstract: | We identified and characterized a neurodifferentiation compound from the marine brown alga Sargassum fulvellum collected from the Japanese coastline. Several instrumental analyses revealed the compound to be pheophytin a. Pheophytin a did not itself promote neurite outgrowth of PC12 cells. However, when PC12 cells were treated with a low concentration of pheophytin a (3.9 microg/ml) in the presence of a low level of nerve growth factor (10 ng/ml), the compound produced neurite outgrowth similar to that produced by a high level of nerve growth factor (50 ng/ml). Pheophytin a also enhanced signal transduction in the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway, which is also induced by nerve growth factor. The effect of pheophytin a on neurite outgrowth of PC12 cells was completely blocked by U0126, a representative mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase inhibitor. These results suggest that pheophytin a enhances the neurodifferentiation of PC12 cells in the presence of a low level of nerve growth factor and that this effect is mediated by activation of a mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway. |
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Keywords: | PC12 cells Neurodifferentiation Pheophytin a Nerve growth factor Mitogen-activated protein kinase Signal pathway |
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