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Previous studies suggest the protective potentiality of Ginkgo biloba (EGb 761) against apoptotic cell death induced by hydroxyl radicals, staurosporine, serum deprivation and β-amyloid (βA) peptide. We have extended these observations to cultured cortical neurons and studied the effect of EGb 761 on neuronal survival (evaluated as MTT reduction), the presence of condensed nuclei (monitored as Hoechst staining), the time-course of caspase-1, caspase-3 and caspase-9 activation (measured by cleavage of specific fluorescent substrates) and superoxide anion production (evaluated by hydroethidine staining) after the exposure to staurosporine. Results show that 200 μg/ml of EGb 761 increased cell survival and reduced the number of condensed nuclei after the exposure to 200 nM staurosporine. Vitamin E and the spin trapper α-phenyl-N-tert-butylnitrone (PBN) also significantly increased cell survival. In …