Protective effect of carnosic acid and its semisynthetic derivatives against H2O2-induced neurotoxicity

Carnosic acid and its new derivatives (17 in total) were tested for their protective effects on hippocampal neuron against H2O2-induced damage using cell counting kit-8. Carnosic acid and its derivatives showed significant neuroprotective activity. Moreover, ester 4 and amides 5k, 5 l, 5 m had higher activity than that of carnosic acid. The catechol hydroxyl groups and carboxyl groups might not be truly necessary for the neuroprotective activity of CA. Choosing suitable substituents helps to further improve the activity and physicochemical properties of the compounds. We expect that our research results will provide some new ideas for the development of novel neuroprotection agents using derivatives of carnosic acid.