Baicalin attenuated substantia nigra neuronal apoptosis in Parkinson's disease rats via the mTOR/AKT/GSK-3β pathway

This focus of our research is to investigate the protective effect of Baicalin on apoptosis and mTOR/AKT/GSK-3β pathway in substantia nigra neurons in a rat model for Parkinson’s disease, induced by 6-Hydroxydopamine. Thirty healthy female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into control group, model group, and Baicalin group. The Parkinson model was established by injecting 6-Hydroxydopamine into the right substantia nigra of rats in model and Baicalin group. The rats in Baicalin group were intragastrically administered with Baicalin (25 mg/kg/day) for four weeks. At the same time, the rats in control and model groups were intragastrically administered with equivalent solvents. We observed the rat turns, rotation speed and left forelimb usage. The protein expression levels of α-SYN, mTOR, AKT, and GSK-3β in substantia nigra were detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. Compared with model group, Baicalin significantly reduced the number of rotation speeds and neuron apoptosis (P ﹤ 0.001, respectively). However, the left forelimb use rate was notably increased after treatment with Baicalin (P ﹤ 0.001, respectively). Also, Baicalin decreased the expression levels of α-SYN, mTOR, AKT, and GSK-3β in rats when compared with those in model group (P ﹤ 0.001, respectively).