Induction of autophagy by spermidine is neuroprotective

In this study, neuronal cell injury was induced by treating PC12 cells and cortical neurons with 1 μM staurosporine (STS). They found that STS-induced cell injury could be efficiently attenuated by pretreatment with 1 mM spermidine. Spermidine inhibited the caspase 3 activation induced by STS. Moreover, STS incubation resulted in autophagic degradation failure, which could be attenuated by the pretreatment of spermidine. Their findings indicate that spermidine may represent a promising natural compound for the treatment of neurological diseases.