<p>The Traditional Chinese Medicine Compound, GRS, Alleviates Blood–Brain Barrier Dysfunction</p>

Abstract

Introduction: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) provides unique advantages for treatment of ischemic stroke, an aging-related vascular disease. Shengmai powder (GRS) is composed of three active components, specifically, ginsenoside Rb1, ruscogenin and schisandrin A, at a ratio of 6:0.75:6. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of GRS on blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction under conditions of middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R). Methods: C57BL/6J mice subjected to MCAO/R were used as a model to assess the protective effects of varying doses of GRS (6.4, 12.8, and 19.2 mg/kg) on BBB dysfunction. Results: GRS reduced cerebral infarct volume and degree of brain tissue damage, improved behavioral scores, decreased water content and BBB permeability, and restored cerebral blood flow. Moreover, GRS promoted expression of zona occludens-1 (ZO-1) and claudin-5 while inhibiting matrix metalloproteinase 2/9 (MMP-2/9) expression and myosin light chain (MLC) phosphorylation. In vitro, GRS (1, 10, and 100 ng/mL) enhanced the viability of bEnd.3 cells subjected to oxygen glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) and decreased sodium fluorescein permeability. Conclusion: Consistent with in vivo findings, ZO-1 and claudin-5 were significantly upregulated by GRS in bEnd.3 cells under OGD/R and MMP-2/9 levels and MLC phosphorylation reduced through the Rho-associated coil-forming protein kinase (ROCK)/cofilin signaling pathway. Based on the collective findings, we propose that the TCM compound, GRS, plays a protective role against I/R-induced BBB dysfunction.

Interleukin-35 attenuates blood-brain barrier dysfunction caused by cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury through inhibiting brain endothelial cell injury

“…In this study, IL-35 treatment inhibited caspase-1-mediated EC injury in vivo and in vitro. Consistent with these results, previous studies have shown that many Chinese herbal medicines with anti-inflammatory effects (such as hispidulin and ruscogenin) can ameliorate BBB injury after ischemic stroke by markedly suppressing the expression of IL-1β and cleaved caspase-1 (36,37).…”

Ruscogenin alleviates cognitive dysfunction by inhibiting the activation of isoflurane-induced NLRP3 inflammasome in aged mice

“…Ophiopogon japonicus has been demonstrated as a pharmacological Chinese medicinal herb in distinct diseases, including diabetes, cancers and inflammatory diseases (Chen et al, 2016). Since ruscogenin, the primary effective steroid sapogenin from Ophiopogon japonicus, has been reported to ameliorate ischemic-induced inflammatory pathway (Guan et al, 2013) or blood-brain barrier dysfunction (Zhang et al, 2020), its role in POCD was investigated in the present study.…”

“…Monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension (Bi et al, 2013), cerulein-induced acute pancreatitis (Ercan et al, 2019) and particulate matter-induced acute lung injury (Wang et al, 2021b) were ameliorated by ruscogenin through its anti-inflammatory capacity. Cerebral ischemic-induced inflammatory pathway was also suppressed by ruscogenin (Guan et al, 2013), and ruscogenin alleviated ischemia/reperfusion-induced blood-brain barrier dysfunction (Zhang et al, 2020). Since surgery is indicated to promote the secretion of pro-inflammatory factors and blood-brain barrier dysfunction to induce neuroinflammation during the development of POCD (Hovens et al, 2016), the role of ruscogenin in anesthetic-induced POCD was investigated in this study.…”

Effect Of lentinan on Proliferation and Apoptosis Of human Astrocytoma U251 Cells

“…Applying the results of in vitro experiments to clinical treatment is still challenging. The advantages of new formulations of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of glioma have gradually emerged, and the research level of targeted Chinese medicine in glioma is also increasing [19,20]. Secondly, the mechanism of the effect of lentinan on proliferation and apoptosis of human astrocytoma U251 cells is still unclear.…”