Paeonol attenuates oxygen-glucose deprivation injury and inhibits NMDA receptor activation of cultured rat hippocampal neurons

The purpose of this study is to determine if paeonol can protect hippocampal neurons against   injury due to oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) injury.  The rat neurons were cultured in an OGD environment and the model of OGD injury was established.  Paeonol and MK-801, a positive control drug, were added    before deprivation.  Neuron viability was measured by the reduction of MTT; glutamate was analyzed by amino acid analyzer; binding activity of NMDA receptor was evaluated by liquid scintillation counting and the      expression of NMDA receptor NR1 subunit mRNA was semiquantitatively determined by RT-PCR.  Compared with OGD injury group, paeonol treatment obviously increased cell survival rate and reduced the binding activity of NMDA receptors and the release of glutamate; and down-regulating the expression of NR1 subunit.  These results suggest that paeonol may exhibit its protective effect against OGD injury by the action on NMDA     receptor of rats.