Neuroprotective Effects of Puerarin on 1‐methyl‐4‐phenyl‐1,2,3,6‐tetrahydropyridine induced Parkinson's Disease Model in Mice

Abstract

Puerarin, an active component of Pueraria montana var. lobata (Willd.) Sanjappa & Pradeep is well-known for its anti-oxidative and neuroprotective activities. Although anti-Parkinson's disease activity of puerarin was reported in both of in vivo and in vitro model, detailed mechanisms are not clarified. In this study, we addressed that puerarin attenuated 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced behavioral deficits, dopaminergic neuronal degeneration and dopamine depletion. Puerarin administration enhanced glutathione (GSH) activity, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) expression and PI3K/Akt pathway activation, which might ameliorate MPTP injection-induced progressive elevation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation in mice. In addition to the effect on ROS, puerarin ameliorated MPTP-reduced lysosome-associated membrane protein type 2A (Lamp 2A) expression. Taken together, our data demonstrate that puerarin attenuates MPTP-induced dopaminergic neuronal degeneration via modulating GDNF expression, PI3K/Akt pathway and GSH activation, which subsequently ameliorate MPTP-induced ROS formation and decrease of Lamp 2A expression.

Puerarin ameliorated the behavioral deficits induced by chronic stress in rats

“…59–61 . However, not many studies on the antidepressant-like effect of puerarin and its possible mechanism.…”

The neuritogenic and synaptogenic effects of the ethanolic extract of radix Puerariae in cultured rat hippocampal neurons

“…In Korea, this medicinal herb is used as ethnomedicine for treating various diseases, including neuronal disorders. The reported neuroprotective effects of puerarin (Dong et al, 2015;Li et al, 2013;Zhu et al, 2014) have provided the support for its traditional use as a treatment for neuronal disorders, and reasonably prompted us to investigate the neurotrophic abilities of this ethnomedicine to the development of CNS neurons. It is worth mentioning that the development of a neuron involves a stereotypic progression of events, that is, the initiation of process outgrowth, axonal differentiation, dendritic arborization and the formation of synaptic connections.…”

“…Scientific evidence of the neuroprotective effects of puerarin has been provided by a number of in vitro and animal model experiments. Zhu et al (2012Zhu et al ( , 2014 reported that puerarin inhibited MPP þ induced human neuroblastoma cell death by activating the PI3K/Akt pathway, and attenuated MPTP-induced dopaminergic neuronal degeneration by modulating GDNF expression, the PI3K/Akt pathway and glutathione activation in a mouse model of PD. Puerarin attenuates neuronal degeneration by protecting against 6-OHDA-mediated oxidative stress injury in substantia nigra .…”

Gastric electrical stimulation improves enteric neuronal survival

“…A previous study indicated that GDNF and brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression levels are upregulated and that cellular apoptosis is attenuated by acupuncture in the hippocampi of rats experiencing hypoxia-ischemia (23). Furthermore, GDNF has a neurotrophic effect on diabetes-induced neuronal apoptosis in the hippocampus (24) and enhances the migration of colon cancer cells (25) via the PI3K/Akt pathway.…”