Doxorubicin (DOX) is a potent, broad-spectrum chemotherapeutic drug used for treatment of several types of cancers. Despite
its effectiveness, it has a wide range of toxic side effects, many of which most likely result from its inherent prooxidant activity. It
has been reported that DOX has toxic effects on normal tissues, including brain tissue. In the current study, we investigated the
protective effect of osthole isolated fromPrangos ferulacea (L.) Lindl. on oxidative stress and apoptosis induced byDOX in PC12 as a
neuronal model cell line. PC12 cells were pretreated with osthole 2 h after treatment with different concentrations ofDOX. 24 h later,
the cell viability, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), the activity of caspase-3, the expression ratio of Bax/Bcl-2, and the
generation of intracellular ROS were detected.We found that pretreatment with osthole on PC12 cells significantly reduced the loss
of cell viability, the activity of caspase-3, the increase in Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, and the generation of intracellular ROS induced by DOX.
Moreover, pretreatment with osthole led to an increase inMMPin PC12 cells. In conclusion, our results indicated that pretreatment
with nontoxic concentrations of osthole protected PC12 cells from DOX-mediated apoptosis by inhibition of ROS production.
