Abstract
Dehydroeffusol, a phenanthrene isolated from Juncus effusus, is a Chinese medicine. To explore an efficacy of dehydroeffusol administration for prevention and cure of Alzheimer’s disease, here we examined the effect of dehydroeffusol on amyloid β1-42 (Aβ1-42)-mediated hippocampal neurodegeneration. Dehydroeffusol (15 mg/kg body weight) was orally administered to mice once a day for 6 days and then human Aβ1-42 was injected intracerebroventricularly followed by oral administration for 12 days. Neurodegeneration in the dentate granule cell layer, which was determined 2 weeks after Aβ1-42 injection, was rescued by dehydroeffusol administration. Aβ staining (uptake) was not reduced in the dentate granule cell layer by pre-administration of dehydroeffusol for 6 days, while increase in intracellular Zn2+ induced with Aβ1-42 was reduced, suggesting that pre-administration of dehydroeffusol prior to Aβ1-42 injection is effective for Aβ1-42-mediated neurodegeneration that was linked with intracellular Zn2+ toxicity. As a matter of fact, pre-administration of dehydroeffusol rescued Aβ1-42-mediated neurodegeneration. Interestingly, pre-administration of dehydroeffusol increased synthesis of metallothioneins, intracellular Zn2+-binding proteins, in the dentate granule cell layer, which can capture Zn2+ from Zn-Aβ1-42 complexes. The present study indicates that pre-administration of dehydroeffusol protects Aβ1-42-mediated neurodegeneration in the hippocampus by reducing intracellular Zn2+ toxicity, which is linked with induced synthesis of metallothioneins. Dehydroeffusol, a novel inducer of metallothioneins, may protect Aβ1-42-induced pathogenesis in Alzheimer’s disease.
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Conceptualization, Atsushi Takeda. Data curation, Haruna Tamano, Mako Takiguchi, Nana Saeki. Formal analysis, Haruna Tamano, Mako Takiguchi. Investigation, Mako Takiguchi, Nana Saeki, Misa Katahira, Aoi Shioya, Yukino Tanaka, Mako Egawa, Toshiyuki Fukuda. Methodology, Atsushi Takeda. Project administration, Atsushi Takeda. Resources, Atsushi Takeda. Software, Hiroki Ikeda. Supervision, Haruna Tamano. Validation, Haruna Tamano. Roles/writing—original draft, Haruna Tamano. Writing—review & editing, Atsushi Takeda.
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Tamano, H., Takiguchi, M., Saeki, N. et al. Dehydroeffusol Pprevents Amyloid β1-42-mediated Hippocampal Neurodegeneration via Reducing Intracellular Zn2+ Toxicity. Mol Neurobiol 58, 3603–3613 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-021-02364-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-021-02364-3