Intranasal administration of dauricine loaded on graphene oxide: multi-target therapy for Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system characterized by progressive cognitive and memory-related impairment. However, current therapeutic treatments have not proved sufficiently effective, mainly due to the complicated pathogenesis of the disease. In this study, a nano-formulation of graphene oxide (GO) loaded with dauricine (Dau) was investigated in terms of the combined anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative stress effects of Dau and the inhibition of misfolding and aggregation of the amyloid-β (Aβ) protein by GO. Both and models were induced using Aβ, and the formulation was administered nasally in mice. The results showed that GO loaded with Dau greatly reduced oxidative stress through increasing superoxide dismutase levels and decreasing reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde levels ; it also alleviated the cognitive memory deficits and brain glial cell activation in mice with Aβ-induced AD. This proved that GO loaded with Dau could protect against Aβ-induced oxidative damage and apoptosis in both and AD models; therefore, GO loaded with Dau has the potential to be an effective and agent for the rapid treatment of AD.