Protective effect of kaempferol against cognitive and neurological disturbances induced by d-galactose and aluminum chloride in mice

Abstract

In this work, d-galactose/aluminum chloride (AlCl3)-treated mice with cognitive and neurological disturbances were administered kaempferol for 30 days. The results showed that kaempferol significantly improved learning and memory in step down test and morris water maze test, decreased the contents of brain ROS, MDA, IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α, increased the activity of SOD and GSH-Px, and regulated the SIRT1/NF-κB signal pathway in the brain. Also kaempferol increased the contents of γ-aminobutyric acid, glycine, acetylcholine and dopamine, and decreased the contents of glutamate,a spartic acid and glutamate to γ-aminobutyric acid ratio obviously. A total of 12 potential biomarkers were clearly altered after kaempferol treatment in the metabolomics, which related to phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, primary bile acid biosynthesis, amino acid metabolism and glycerophospholipid metabolism. To conclude, our study verified the neuroprotective effect of kaempferol on d-galactose/AlCl3-treated mice and serve as a potential nutraceutical agent for cognitive and neurological dysfunction.

Keywords

• Kaempferol
• Alzheimer's disease
• Metabolomics
• Neurotransmitter
• SIRT1/NF-κB pathway