Pharmacognostical analysis and protective effect of standardized extract and rizonic acid from Erythrina velutina against 6-hydroxydopamine-induced neurotoxicity in Sh-Sy5Y cells

Background: Erythrina velutina is a tree common in the northeast of Brazil extensively used by traditional medicine for the treatment of central nervous system disorders. Objective: To develop a standardized ethanol extract of E. velutina (EEEV) and to investigate the neuroprotective potential of the extract and rizonic acid (RA) from E. velutina on neuronal cells. Materials and methods: The plant drug of E. velutina previously characterized was used for the production of EEEV. Three methods were evaluated in order to obtain an extract with higher content of phenols. The neuroprotective effect of standardized EEEV (HPLC-PDA) and RA was investigated on SH-SY5Y cell exposure to the neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). Results: The powder of the plant drug was classified as moderately coarse and several quality control parameters were determined. EEEV produced by percolation gave the highest phenol content when related to others extractive methods, and its HPLC-PDA analysis allowed to identify four flavonoids and RA, some reported for the first time for the species. EEEV and RA reduced significantly the neurotoxicity induced by 6-OHDA in SH-SY5Y cells determined by the MTT assay and the nitrite concentration. EEEV also showed a free radical scavenging activity. Conclusion: This is the first pharmacological study about E. velutina which used a controlled standardized extract since the preparation of the herbal drug. This extract and RA, acting as an antioxidant, presents a neuroprotective effect suggesting that they have potential for future development as a therapeutic agent in neurodegenerative disease as Parkinson.