Astragaloside depresses compound action potential in sciatic nerve of frogs involved in L-type Ca²⁺-channel dependent mechanism

The sciatic nerve is the largest sensorimotor nerve within the peripheral nervous system (PNS), possessing the ability to produce endogenous neurotrophins. Compound nerve action potentials (CNAPs) are regarded as a physiological/pathological indicator to identify nerve activity in signal transduction of the PNS. Astragaloside (AST), a small-molecule saponin purified from Astragalus membranaceus, is widely used to treat chronic disease. Nonetheless, the regulatory effects of AST on the sciatic nerve remain unknown. Therefore, the present investigation was undertaken to study the effect of AST on CNAPs of frog sciatic nerves. Here, AST depressed the conduction velocity and amplitude of CNAPs. Importantly, the AST-induced responses could be blocked by a Ca2+-free medium, or by applying all Ca2+ channel antagonists (CdCl2/LaCl3) or L-type Ca2+ channel blockers (nifedipine/diltiazem), but not the T-type and P-type Ca2+ channel antagonist (NiCl2). Altogether, these findings suggested that AST may attenuate the CNAPs of frog sciatic nerves in vitro via the L-type Ca2+-channel dependent mechanisms.