Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the production of β-amyloid proteins and hyperphosphorylation of tau protein. Inflammation and apoptotic severity were highly correlated with earlier age at onset of Alzheimer’s disease and were also associated with cognitive decline. This study aims to examine whether the traditional Chinese medicine ginsennoside Rd could prevent cognitive deficit and take neuroprotective effects in β-amyloid peptide 1–40-induced rat model of Alzheimer’s disease. To produce Alzheimer’s disease animal model, aggregated β-amyloid peptide 1–40 injected into hippocampus bilaterally. Ginsennoside Rd protected their cognitive impairment and improved their memory function by daily intraperitoneal injection for 30 days consecutively. In addition, ginsennoside Rd alleviated the inflammation induced by β-amyloid peptide 1–40. Furthermore, ginsennoside Rd played a role in the down-regulation of caspase-3 proteins and reduced the apoptosis that normally followed β-amyloid peptide 1–40 injection. The results of this study showed that the pretreatment of ginsennoside Rd had neuroprotective effects in β-amyloid peptide 1–40-induced AD model rat.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81073094). We thank Dr. Dongyun Feng for the technique support in Western blot.
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Juanfang Liu, Xiaodong Yan and Ling Li contributed equally to this work.
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Liu, J., Yan, X., Li, L. et al. Ginsennoside Rd Attenuates Cognitive Dysfunction in a Rat Model of Alzheimer’s Disease. Neurochem Res 37, 2738–2747 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-012-0866-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-012-0866-2