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Lignans from Schisandra chinensis ameliorate cognition deficits and attenuate brain oxidative damage induced by D-galactose in rats

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the neuroprotective effects of active compounds from Schisandra chinensis (Trucz.) Baill. (Magnoliaceae) against the D-galactose (D-gal)-induced neurotoxicity in rat. The Wistar rats were subcutaneously injected with D-gal (150 mg/(kg day)) for six weeks and orally administered with water extract or 95 % ethanol extract (partitioned with petroleum ether (PE), chloroform (CF), ethyl acetate (EA) and n-Butanol (NB), respectively) of the fruits of Schisandra chinensis simultaneously. The alteration of cognitive functions was assessed by using Morris water maze and Step-down type passive avoidance test. The results demonstrated that PE fraction was the most effective fraction to ameliorate cognitive deficits. Further biochemical examination indicated that PE could attenuate the activities decreasing of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), the total antioxidant (T-AOC) induced by D-gal, and maintain the normal levels of glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) in the serum, prefrontal cortex, striatum and hippocampus of the brain of related rat, selectively. Meanwhile, the compounds of PE fraction were also identified as mainly lignans, thus, these results suggest that lignans from the PE fraction of Schisandra chinensis represented a potential source of medicine for the treatment of the aging-associated neurodegenerative diseases.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81573580) and Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province of China (No. 2014020076).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Traditional Chinese Materia Medica, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Wenhua Road 103, Shenyang, People’s Republic China

    Tingxu Yan, Mengshi Wang, Chenning Zhang, Xu Zhao & Ying Jia

  2. The first hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, 110001, People’s Republic China

    Lei Shang

  3. School of Pharmacy, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Wenhua Road 103, Shenyang, People’s Republic China

    Kaishun Bi

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  1. Tingxu Yan
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  2. Lei Shang
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  3. Mengshi Wang
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  4. Chenning Zhang
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  5. Xu Zhao
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  6. Kaishun Bi
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  7. Ying Jia
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Correspondence to Ying Jia.

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Yan, T., Shang, L., Wang, M. et al. Lignans from Schisandra chinensis ameliorate cognition deficits and attenuate brain oxidative damage induced by D-galactose in rats. Metab Brain Dis 31, 653–661 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-016-9804-3

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