Protective effects of nourishing spleen yin recipe on endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced neuronal cell damage and its mechanism

Potential therapeutic compounds from traditional Chinese medicine targeting endoplasmic reticulum stress to alleviate rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease which affects about 0.5-1% of people with symptoms that significantly impact a sufferer's lifestyle. The cells involved in propagating RA tend to display pro-inflammatory and cancer-like characteristics. Medical drug treatment is currently the main avenue of RA therapy. However, drug options are limited due to severe side effects, high costs, insufficient disease retardation in a majority of patients, and therapeutic effects possibly subsiding over time. Thus there is a need for new drug therapies. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, a condition due to accumulation of misfolded proteins in the ER, and subsequent cellular responses have been found to be involved in cancer and inflammatory pathologies, including RA. ER stress protein markers and their modulation have therefore been suggested as therapeutic targets, such as GRP78 and CHOP, among others. Some current RA therapeutic drugs have been found to have ER stress-modulating properties. Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs) frequently use natural products that affect multiple body and cellular targets, and several medicines and/or their isolated compounds have been found to also have ER stress-modulating capabilities, including TCMs used in RA treatment by Chinese Medicine practitioners. This review encourages, in light of the available information, the study of these RA-treating, ER stress-modulating TCMs as potential new pharmaceutical drugs for use in clinical RA therapy, along with providing a list of other ER stress-modulating TCMs utilized in treatment of cancers, inflammatory diseases and other diseases, that have potential use in RA treatment given similar ER stress-modulating capacity.

Research advances in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease with polysaccharides from traditional Chinese medicine

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of patients' memory and their cognitive abilities and the mechanism is not completely clear. Although a variety of drugs have been approved for the AD treatment, substances which can prevent and cure AD are still in great need. The effect of polysaccharides from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) on anti-AD has gained great progress and attained more and more attention in recent years. In this review, research advances in TCM-polysaccharides on AD made in this decade are summarized.

Protective effect of spleen-yin-nourishing recipe on amyloid beta-peptide-induced damage of primarily cultured rat hippocampal neurons and its mechanism

OBJECTIVE

To observe the relationship among amyloid beta-peptide (Abeta)-induced neurotoxicity, serum-inducible kinase (SNK)-spine-associated Rap guanosine triphosphatase activating protein (SPAR) pathway and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR), and to explore the mechanism of the protective effect of spleen-yin nourishing recipe (Zibu Piyin Recipe, ZBPYR) in hippocampal neurons against Abeta-induced neurotoxicity.

METHODS

The Abeta(1-40) powder was dissolved in 1 x PBS and incubated at 37 degrees centigrade, and then aggregated fibrillar Abeta(1-40) was obtained 72 h later. We used rat primary hippocampal neurons as cell model. ZBPYR-containing serum was gained by the method of serum pharmacology. ZBPYR-containing serum was added to the culture 1 h before Abeta(1-40) (5 micromol/L) exposure. Cells were harvested 2 h after Abeta(1-40) exposure for total RNA extracting. Then the mRNA expression levels of SNK, SPAR and NMDAR subunits NR1, NR2A and NR2B were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

RESULTS

After 2-hour Abeta(1-40) exposure, we found that the expression level of SNK mRNA was up-regulated and the expression levels of SPAR, NR1, NR2A and NR2B mRNAs were down-regulated in hippocampal neurons as compared with control group (P < 0.01, P < 0.05). While with ZBPYR-containing serum pretreatment, the expression level of SNK mRNA was down-regulated and the levels of SPAR, NR1, NR2A and NR2B were up-regulated as compared with Abeta(1-40) exposure, and 2% ZBPYR-containing serum showed the best effect (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Abeta-induced neurotoxicity was related to SNK-SPAR pathway and NMDAR; ZBPYR-containing serum can protect neurons from Abeta-induced neurotoxicity, and this protective effect may be performed by regulating the expression of NMDAR and blocking of the SNK-SPAR pathway.

The effects of Zibu Piyin Recipe components on scopolamine-induced learning and memory impairment in the mouse

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

The Zibu Piyin Recipe (ZBPYR) is derived from Zicheng Decoction, a traditional Chinese medicine formula recorded in the book of Bujuji, written by Wu Cheng in the Qing dynasty and used for clinical treatment of amnesia. Our aim was to study the effects of Zibu Piyin Recipe (ZBPYR) fractions on scopolamine-induced learning and memory impairment in the mouse.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Crude extracts were prepared using various solvents, and individual fractions produced following D101 macroporous resin column chromatography. The passive avoidance task, step down test and Morris water maze test were then performed in mice for the evaluation of learning and memory alterations. The effective fractions were then analyzed using GC-MS and polysaccharide measurement methods, respectively.

RESULTS

The treatment group latency for the alcohol precipitation from water part (EP) and 95% ethanol part (95%E) following D101 macroporous resin column chromatography was significantly prolonged when compared to that of the scopolamine treated groups for both the passive avoidance task and step down test. In the Morris water maze tests, treatment with EP and 95%E resulted in a significantly shorter escape latency time (from the fourth day and the second day) and swimming distance (on the third day and from the third day) in scopolamine-induced mice. In the memory retention test, treatment with EP and 95%E dramatically shortened the latency to cross platform location and increased the numbers of platform location crosses in the scopolamine-induced mice. The polysaccharide content in EP was determined to be 69.79%. The 95%E was found to mainly contain asarone, α-cadinol, isocalamendiol, 2,4,7,14-tetramethyl-4-vinyl-tricyclo[5.4.3.0(1,8)]tetradecan-6-ol, 3-isopropyl-6,7-dimethyltricyclo[4.4.0.0(2,8)]decane-9,10-diol, 2-methyl-9-(prop-1- -en-3-ol-2-yl)-bicyclo[4.4.0]dec-2-ene-4-ol, diepicedrene-1-oxide, 7-methoxy-6-(3- -methyl-2-oxobutyl)-2H-1-benzopyran-2-one and diisooctyl phthalate when assessed using GC-MS analysis.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that the polysaccharide and volatile oil present in ZBPYR exhibit ameliorating effects on scopolamine-induced memory dysfunction.