The Institute of Medicine, Qiqihar Medical University, Qiqihar 161006, China.
Eur J Pharmacol. 2010 Dec 15;649(1-3):195-201. doi: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2010.09.045. Epub 2010 Sep 22.
Elevated levels of β-amyloid (Aβ) in the brains being a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease have been believed to play a critical role in the cognitive dysfunction that occurs in Alzheimer's disease. Recent evidence suggests that Aβ induces neuronal apoptosis in the brain and in primary neuronal cultures. In this study, we investigated the effects of puerarin, a phytoestrogen isolated from Pueraria lobata, on cognitive function and neuronal apoptosis in the intrahippocampal injection of Aβ rats and its mechanism of action. The results show the intrahippocampal injection of Aβ induced a spatial memory deficit, apoptosis, and caspase-9 activation in hippocampal neurons. Puerarin treatment ameliorated Aβ(1-42)-induced cognitive impairment and reversed the increase of apoptosis in the hippocampus. The attenuation is associated with the activation of Akt and phosphorylation of Bad. These results suggest that puerarin may be an anti-Alzheimer's disease candidate drug to suppress both Alzheimer's disease-related neuronal cell apoptosis and dysfunction of the memory system.
β-淀粉样蛋白（Aβ）在大脑中的水平升高被认为是阿尔茨海默病认知功能障碍的一个关键因素。最近的证据表明，Aβ在大脑中和原代神经元培养物中诱导神经元凋亡。在这项研究中，我们研究了葛根素（一种从野葛中分离出的植物雌激素）对 Aβ 大鼠海马内注射引起的认知功能障碍和神经元凋亡的影响及其作用机制。结果表明，海马内注射 Aβ可诱导空间记忆缺陷、凋亡和海马神经元中 caspase-9 的激活。葛根素治疗可改善 Aβ（1-42）诱导的认知障碍，并逆转海马中凋亡的增加。这种衰减与 Akt 的激活和 Bad 的磷酸化有关。这些结果表明，葛根素可能是一种抗阿尔茨海默病候选药物，可抑制阿尔茨海默病相关的神经元细胞凋亡和记忆系统功能障碍。
