Department of Pharmacology of Chinese Materia Medica, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China.
J Med Food. 2013 Jul;16(7):577-86. doi: 10.1089/jmf.2012.2654.
Diabetic encephalopathy (DE) is one of the severe complications in patients with diabetes mellitus. Paeonol, an active compound isolated from the root bark of Paeonia suffruticosa, has significant antidiabetic activity in vivo. However, its underlying beneficial effects on DE were unclear. In the present study, the protective activity of paeonol on DE was evaluated in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Paeonol at 50 and 100 mg/kg significantly increased body weight and decreased blood glucose levels, glycosylated serum proteins, and serum advanced glycation end products (AGEs) levels. Immunohistochemistry assays and Western blot analysis revealed a significant decrease in expressions on receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) in hippocampus and cerebral cortical neurons after paeonol treatment. Furthermore, paeonol significantly increased glutathione content and remarkedly decreased induced nitric oxide synthase activity in hippocampus tissue. Our findings indicated that paeonol could improve the pathological damage of DE in STZ-induced diabetic rats. It might be associated with the modulating AGEs/RAGE/NF-κB pathway. This study suggested that paeonol might be a promising candidate for the prevention and treatment of DE.
糖尿病脑病（DE）是糖尿病患者的严重并发症之一。丹皮酚是从牡丹皮中分离得到的一种活性化合物，具有显著的体内抗糖尿病活性。然而，其对 DE 的潜在有益作用尚不清楚。本研究评价了丹皮酚对链脲佐菌素（STZ）诱导的糖尿病大鼠 DE 的保护作用。丹皮酚 50 和 100mg/kg 显著增加了体重，降低了血糖、糖化血清蛋白和血清晚期糖基化终产物（AGEs）水平。免疫组织化学检测和 Western blot 分析显示，丹皮酚处理后海马和大脑皮质神经元中晚期糖基化终产物受体（RAGE）和核因子κB（NF-κB）的表达显著降低。此外，丹皮酚显著增加了海马组织中的谷胱甘肽含量，显著降低了诱导型一氧化氮合酶的活性。我们的研究结果表明，丹皮酚可改善 STZ 诱导的糖尿病大鼠 DE 的病理损伤。这可能与调节 AGEs/RAGE/NF-κB 通路有关。本研究提示丹皮酚可能是预防和治疗 DE 的有前途的候选药物。
