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The Dietary Flavonoid, Luteolin, Negatively Affects Neuronal Differentiation
Amrutha Swaminathan1,2, Moumita Basu1, Abdelhamid Bekri2,3
1Transcription and Disease Laboratory, Molecular Biology and Genetics Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru, India.
Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
|March 26, 2019
Summary
Luteolin, a plant flavonoid, hinders embryonic stem cell differentiation into neurons. This specific effect on neuronal development may be linked to its inhibition of the p300 enzyme.
Area of Science:
- * Developmental Biology
- * Molecular Biology
- * Pharmacology
Background:
- * Luteolin is a plant flavonoid with known anti-cancer, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties.
- * Previous studies suggest luteolin exhibits neuroprotective effects and promotes neurite outgrowth.
- * The impact of luteolin on the early differentiation stages of stem cells remains largely unexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- * To investigate the effect of luteolin on the early differentiation of embryonic stem cells.
- * To determine if luteolin specifically inhibits neuronal differentiation.
- * To explore the potential mechanism underlying luteolin's effect on neuronal differentiation.
Main Methods:
- * Treatment of mouse embryonic stem cells with luteolin during differentiation.
- * Assessment of embryoid body formation and expression of differentiation markers.
- * Analysis of neuronal differentiation in a zebrafish model.
- * Investigation of the role of lysine acetyltransferase p300.
Main Results:
- * Luteolin negatively impacts early embryonic stem cell differentiation, inhibiting embryoid body formation.
- * Luteolin specifically suppresses neuronal differentiation, reducing the expression of early neuronal markers.
- * Luteolin does not inhibit the expression of mesodermal or endodermal markers.
- * Luteolin treatment resulted in fewer mitotic cells in the developing zebrafish brain.
- * The inhibitory effect of luteolin on neuronal differentiation may be mediated by the inhibition of p300.
Conclusions:
- * Luteolin perturbs the early differentiation of embryonic stem cells, with a specific inhibitory effect on neuronal differentiation.
- * The findings suggest that luteolin's impact on neuronal development could be linked to its ability to inhibit p300.
- * This study highlights a potential concern regarding luteolin's use in contexts involving neural development or repair.
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