Neuroprotective Effects of Rosiglitazone

Neuro2A cells were purchased from ATCC (Manassas, VA) and cultured as previously described (Lou et al. 2013 (link)). Hippocampal and cortical neurons were prepared from rat embryos (E18) as previously described (Cheng et al. 2013 (link)). Cells were treated with 1 μM rosiglitazone (Cayman) or vehicle (0.1% DMSO) for 24 or 48 h. Where noted, the cells were transiently transfected with 30 nM Stealth siRNA oligonucleotides directed against NF-α1 (5′-GGUUUGUCCGUGACCUUCAGGGUAA-3′) or a scrambled control sequence (5′-UUAAACGUCCGGAACACUCAGGACC-3′) (Life Technologies, Grand Island, NY) for 24 h using Lipofectamine RNAiMAX (Invitrogen), prior to drug treatment. In other experiments, cells were incubated with 100 μM H₂O₂ to induce oxidative stress or with GW9662 (Cayman), a selective PPARγ inhibitor, to inhibit the protective effect of rosiglitazone.