Figure 2.

N-benzylcinnamide (PT-3) pretreatment prevented scopolamine (Sco)-induced reduction of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity and induction of pro-apoptosis events in SH-SY5Y cells.

Cells were treated with PT-3 and Sco as described in legend to Figure 1. ChAT activity, activated caspase-3, Bax and Bcl-2 levels were determined by western blot analysis (upper panels). PT-3 pretreatment increased ChAT activity (A), and reduced activated caspase-3 (B) and Bax/Bcl-2 (C) levels. Results are shown as the mean ± SEM of three independent experiments. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, vs. control group; ###P < 0.001, vs. Sco treated group (one-way analysis of variance followed by Student-Newman-Keuls test). Con: Control.