Amyloid beta (Aβ) can aggregate and form plaques, which are considered as one of the major hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. This study aims to directly compare the neuroprotective activities in vitro of two marine-derived carotenoids astaxanthin and fucoxanthin that have shown a spectrum of biological activities, including neuroprotection. The in vitro neuroprotective activities were investigated against Aβ1-42-mediated toxicity in pheochromocytoma (PC-12) neuronal cells using the MTT cell viability assay, anti-apoptotic, antioxidant and neurite outgrowth activities; as well as inhibition against Aβ1-42 fibrillization in the Thioflavin T (ThT) assay of fibril kinetics and via transmission electron microscopic (TEM) evaluation of fibril morphology. The results demonstrated that both astaxanthin and fucoxanthin exhibited multi-neuroprotective effects favouring fucoxanthin over astaxanthin supporting neuroprotective roles of marine-derived carotenoids as potential novel dementia prevention or therapeutic strategies.

中文翻译：

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虾青素和岩藻黄质对淀粉样β（Aβ1-42）毒性和聚集的神经保护活性的体外研究。

淀粉样蛋白β（Aβ）可以聚集并形成斑块，斑块被认为是阿尔茨海默氏病的主要标志之一。这项研究的目的是直接比较两种海洋生物类胡萝卜素虾青素和岩藻黄质的体外神经保护活性，它们显示了一系列的生物活性，包括神经保护作用。使用MTT细胞活力测定，抗凋亡，抗氧化剂和神经突生长活性，研究了对嗜铬细胞瘤（PC-12）神经元细胞中Aβ1-42介导的毒性的体外神经保护活性；以及通过硫黄素T（ThT）测定原纤维动力学和通过透射电子显微镜（TEM）评估原纤维形态对Aβ1-42原纤维化的抑制作用。