Figure 3. Phenserine and primary metabolites exert neuroprotective actions against H₂O₂ and glutamate-induced toxicity in SH-SY5Y cells.

Cells were exposed to 3, 10 or 30 µM (+)-phenserine 24 hr before addition of 30–100 µM H₂O₂ or to 100 mM glutamate in (A), or to (−)-phenserine, (+)-N1-norphenserine, (+)-N8-norphenserine or (+)-N1,N8-bisnorphenserine 24 hr before addition of 100 µM H₂O₂ in (B). In (C), inhibitors of PKC (GF109203X, 2.5 µM), MEK1/2 (U0126, 5 µM) or MEK1 (PD98059, 10 µM) were added to the cells 30 min before adding 30 µM (+)-phenserine. 100 µM H₂O₂ was added after 24 hr and after additional 24 hr incubation, cell proliferation was determined by MTS assay. *P<0.05 **p<0.01, and ***p<0.001 compared to control samples without drug, #p<0.05, ##p<0.01 and ###p<0.001 compared to samples with (+)-phenserine only, °°° compared to samples exposed to (+)-phenserine and H₂O₂ (one-way ANOVA followed by Bonferronís multiple comparison post hoc test). Results are expressed as mean ± SEM.