Ethnopharmacological relevance: Saikosaponin C (SSc), a traditional Chinese herbal medicine, is a triterpene saponin and an active compound extracted from Radix Bupleuri. It has been demonstrated to have neuroprotective effects in cellular models of neurodegenerative diseases; however, its precise mechanism of action in alleviating tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease (AD), as well as its potential to improve cognitive deficits in animal models, has not yet been elucidated.
Aim of the study: In this study, we investigated the in vivo therapeutic effects of SSc on a human tau (hTau) mouse model expressing normal hTau isoforms in terms of tau-related pathology (tauopathy) and the underlying mechanisms.
Materials and methods: For the animal study, C57BL/6 mice received stereotaxic brain injections of adeno-associated virus (AAV)-hTau in the absence or presence of SSc. The Morris water navigation task was employed to evaluate the therapeutic effects of SSc on memory and learning. Tau phosphorylation in the brain was assessed by immunofluorescence and Western blotting. Dendritic spine maturation, an indicator of synaptic plasticity, was determined by assessing doublecortin expression and performing automatic dendritic spine analysis. GFAP and Iba1 immunoreactivity were observed as indicators of neuroinflammation. Dityrosine formation and superoxide dismutase 2 expression were measured to monitor oxidative stress. For the mechanistic study, RNA-Seq was used to identify tauopathy-related changes in gene expression. Furthermore, the effects of SSc on aluminum chloride (AlCl3)-induced cytotoxicity, oxidative stress, tau phosphorylation, and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling were evaluated.
Results: We found that SSc significantly relieved spatial memory impairment and alleviated the pathological hallmarks of AD-like tau, such as excessive tau phosphorylation and oxidative stress, in AAV-hTau-injected mice. SSc also relieved the deficit in dendritic spine density in mice with tauopathy-associated dementia. Neuroinflammation, another hallmark of AD-like pathology, was reduced by SSc treatment. Furthermore, SSc attenuated AlCl3-induced tau pathology, such as neurotoxicity and abnormal tau phosphorylation, by targeting oxidative stress and the downstream MAPK pathway.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that SSc treatment ameliorates cognitive deficits and related tau pathological features in the hTau AD mouse model. The antioxidant effects of SSc might be responsible for the therapeutic potential of SSc in protecting against tau pathology and cognitive decline.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease (AD); Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK); Oxidative stress; Saikosaponin C (SSc); Tau hyperphosphorylation.
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