Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Molecular Biology Reports https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-018-4557-1 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Gallic and vanillic acid suppress inflammation and promote myelination in an in vitro mouse model of neurodegeneration Sonia Siddiqui 1,2  · Aisha Kamal 2  · Faisal Khan 2  · Khawar Saeed Jamali 3  · Zafar Saeed Saify 4 Received: 3 May 2018 / Accepted: 6 December 2018 © Springer Nature B.V. 2018 Abstract Neuroinflammation affects millions of people around the world as a result of injury or stress. Neuroinflammation represents almost all types of neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. Neurodegenerative diseases comprise demyelination and synaptic loss. The inflammatory response is further propagated by the activation of glial cells and modulation of constitutively expressed extracellular matrix proteins. The aim of the present study was to identify the anti-inflammatory effects of purified compounds gallic acid (GA, 1.0 µM) and vanillic acid (VA, 0.2 µM) on the lysoleci- thin (LPC, 0.003%)-induced model of inflammation. Hippocampal neurons were co-cultured with glial cells, and LPC was added to induce inflammation. Neurite outgrowth was measured by morphometry software. The level of myelination and demyelination was identified by immunostaining and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and western blotting techniques using different antibodies. Whole-cell patch clamp recordings were used to observe the sustained repeti- tive firing pattern. The data showed that GA and VA significantly increased the neurite outgrowth after 48 h in culture. Both compounds significantly reduced the expression of cyclooxygenase-2, NFκB, tenascin-C, chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans and glial fibrillary acidic protein in astrocytes in the LPC-induced model of inflammation. The level of myelin protein in neurites and oligodendrocyte cell bodies was significantly upregulated by GA and VA treatment. The reduction in sustained repetitive firing in the LPC-induced model of inflammation was reversed by both GA and VA treatment. This study sup- ports the hypothesis that VA and GA have anti-inflammatory activities and could be regarded as potential treatments for neurodegenerative disease. Keywords Lysolecithin · CNS injury · Remyelination · GA · VA · ECM proteins Introduction Neuroinflammatory diseases are a significant problem and a complicated multi-factorial process in the brain that is believed to play a crucial role in the development of neu- rodegenerative diseases. The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a mesh work of intricate macromolecules that provide the Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-018-4557-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Sonia Siddiqui siddisbs@yahoo.com Aisha Kamal aisha.kamal@iccs.edu Faisal Khan faisal.khan@iccs.edu Khawar Saeed Jamali khawarjamali@gmail.com Zafar Saeed Saify zssaify@gmail.com 1 Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan 2 Department of Neuroscience, Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi 75270, Pakistan 3 Department of Surgery, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan 4 HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi 75270, Pakistan