Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Flavonoids Induce the Synthesis and Secretion of Neurotrophic Factors in Cultured Rat Astrocytes: A Signaling Response Mediated by Estrogen Receptor

Table 1

The bioactivities of flavonoids in increasing the protein levels of neurotrophic factors.
FlavonoidNGFGDNFBDNF
Flavanones   
 Alpinetin++++++
 Hesperidin—+—
 Naringenin———
 Naringin—+++—
 Neohesperidin—++—
Flavones   
 Apigenin—++—
 Baicalein———
 Luteolin++++++++++
 Tangeretin++——
 Wogonin———
Aurones   
 Sulfuretin—++—
Dihydrochalcones   
 Phloretin———
Flavonols   
 Silybin++++—+
Chalcones   
 Cardamonin+++—
Isoflavones   
 Calycosin++++++++++
 Calycosin-7-O-glc+++++—
 Daidzein———
 Formononetin———
 Genistein++++++++++
 Genistin———
 Puerarin++++—
Flavones   
 (−)-Catechin——+
 (−)-Epicatechin———
Flavonols   
 Fisetin+++—+
 Galangin—++—
 Hyperin———
 Icariin——+
 Isorhamnetin+++++++++++
 Kaempferol+++
 Quercetin—+—
 RNFG—++—
 173-estradiol+++++++++++
Percentage of increas + > 100%, ++ > 200%, +++ > 300%, ++++ > 500%.
Flavonoids at 10 μM were applied to cultured rat astrocytes and maintained for 48 hours. The protein levels of NGF GDNF and BDNF were measured by ELISA. 17β-Estradiol at 100 nM served as the positive control. Data are Means ± SEM, , each with triplicate samples. The value of SEM is within 5% of the mean, which is not shown for clarity. “+” to “+++” indicate the ranking of the inductive effect on protein amount of neurotrophic factors. “—” indicates no effect, that is, below 10% increase in the tested activities.