Astaxanthin Protects Primary Hippocampal Neurons against Noxious Effects of Aβ-Oligomers

Figure 3

ATX prevents AβOs-induced NFATc4 activation. Hippocampal neurons (13–15 DIV) were transfected with EGFP-NFATc4 24 h before the experiments. ((a)–(d)) show representative images of intracellular distribution of EGFP-NFATc4 (green fluorescence) and of nuclear staining with Hoechst (blue fluorescence) in hippocampal neurons. (a) Neurons treated with vehicle, (b) stimulated with 500 nM AβOs for 6 h, (c) preincubated with 0.1 μM ATX for 1.5 h before AβOs addition, or (d) incubated with ATX for 7.5 h. Scale bar: 10 μm. (e) shows the quantification of four different experiments () in cultures from four different animals; each condition was tested in duplicate (in total, 15–25 cells were analyzed per condition). The results are expressed as the mean ratio of nuclear/cytoplasmic fluorescence intensity ± SE, relative to control cells. Statistically significant differences among experimental conditions were evaluated by one-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s multiple comparison test ( compared to control; compared to indicated conditions).

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