Yang Shuo, Gao Xin-Qi, Tan Ai-Hua, Ge Pan
Department of Central Laboratory, Huang Gang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Huanggang, Hubei Province, China.
Zonglian College, Medical School, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China.
Chem Biodivers. 2025 May;22(5):e202402208. doi: 10.1002/cbdv.202402208. Epub 2025 Feb 11.
Vascular dementia (VaD) is a type of dementia that results from brain injury caused by cerebrovascular disease or vascular risk factors. Accumulating evidence from clinical studies has found that Xixin decoction can effectively improve the cognitive function of patients with VaD and improve their daily living ability. However, the pathogenesis of VaD is not fully understood, and the therapeutic mechanism of Xixin decoction is also unclear. The Morris water maze, new object recognition, transmission electron microscopy observation, Golgi staining, Nissl staining, Western blotting, and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction were employed to explore the therapeutic mechanism of Xixin decoction. The results showed decreased learning and cognitive abilities, hippocampal neuron damage, decreased NPTX2 protein expression, and increased expression of inflammatory factors such as C1q and C3 in the model group compared with the control group. Furthermore, compared with the model group, the above symptoms were improved after administration of Xixin decoction, and the activity of the NPTX2/C1q/C3 complement pathway was altered. In conclusion, these results suggested that Xixin decoction might treat VaD by modulating the NPTX2/C1q/C3 complement pathway.
血管性痴呆（VaD）是一种由脑血管疾病或血管危险因素导致脑损伤而引起的痴呆类型。临床研究积累的证据表明，细辛汤可有效改善血管性痴呆患者的认知功能并提高其日常生活能力。然而，血管性痴呆的发病机制尚未完全明确，细辛汤的治疗机制也不清楚。采用Morris水迷宫、新物体识别、透射电子显微镜观察、高尔基染色、尼氏染色、蛋白质免疫印迹法以及实时定量聚合酶链反应来探究细辛汤的治疗机制。结果显示，与对照组相比，模型组的学习和认知能力下降、海马神经元损伤、NPTX2蛋白表达降低以及炎症因子如C1q和C3的表达增加。此外，与模型组相比，给予细辛汤后上述症状得到改善，并且NPTX2/C1q/C3补体途径的活性发生了改变。总之，这些结果表明细辛汤可能通过调节NPTX2/C1q/C3补体途径来治疗血管性痴呆。
