rhizome extract and volatile oil increase the levels of monoamine neurotransmitters and impact the proteomic profiles in the rat hippocampus: Mechanistic insights into their neuroprotective effects.

Potentially useful in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, and have been shown to possess a wide spectrum of neuropharmacological activities and neuroprotective effects and . In this study, we determined whether and how ethanolic extract and volatile oil could influence the levels of neurotransmitters and the whole proteomic profile in the hippocampus of Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. The effects of and on protein changes were analyzed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D-gel), and proteins were identified by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The target proteins were then confirmed by Western blot. The levels of neurotransmitters were evaluated by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The results showed that , and fluoxetine (the control drug for this study) increased serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine in the rat hippocampus compared to that of the vehicle-treated group. Our proteomic data showed that 37 proteins in the group were up-regulated, while 14 were down-regulated, and 27 proteins in the group were up-regulated, while 16 were down-regulated. In the fluoxetine treatment group, we found 29 proteins up-regulated, whereas 14 proteins were down-regulated. In line with the proteomic data, the levels of GFAP, PDIA3, DPYSL2 and p-DPYSL2 were modified in the SD rat groups treated with , and fluoxetine as confirmed by Western blot. and mediated not only the levels of monoamine neurotransmitters but also the proteomic profiles in the rat hippocampus, thus shedding light on the mechanisms targeting neurodegenerative diseases.