The therapeutic effect of Zhenbao pills on behavioral changes in zebrafish caused by aluminum chloride

Hongsong Chen; Huilei Li; Xiaoyu Yin; Yuanyuan Liu; Tengdan Zhang; Hui Wu; Guiying Kang; Yongli Yu; Meirong Bai; Liming Bao; Jingfeng Yang; Wu Dong

Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy (Apr 2023)

The therapeutic effect of Zhenbao pills on behavioral changes in zebrafish caused by aluminum chloride

Hongsong Chen,
Huilei Li,
Xiaoyu Yin,
Yuanyuan Liu,
Tengdan Zhang,
Hui Wu,
Guiying Kang,
Yongli Yu,
Meirong Bai,
Liming Bao,
Jingfeng Yang,
Wu Dong

Affiliations

Hongsong Chen: Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Toxicant Monitoring and Toxicology, College of Animal Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia Minzu University, Tongliao, Inner Mongolia 028000, China
Huilei Li: Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Minzu University, Tongliao, Inner Mongolia 028000, China; Corresponding authors.
Xiaoyu Yin: Graduate School of Engineering, Muroran Institute of Technology, Muroran 050-8585, Japan
Yuanyuan Liu: Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Toxicant Monitoring and Toxicology, College of Animal Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia Minzu University, Tongliao, Inner Mongolia 028000, China
Tengdan Zhang: Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Toxicant Monitoring and Toxicology, College of Animal Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia Minzu University, Tongliao, Inner Mongolia 028000, China
Hui Wu: Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Toxicant Monitoring and Toxicology, College of Animal Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia Minzu University, Tongliao, Inner Mongolia 028000, China
Guiying Kang: Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Toxicant Monitoring and Toxicology, College of Animal Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia Minzu University, Tongliao, Inner Mongolia 028000, China
Yongli Yu: College of Life Science and Food Science, Inner Mongolia Minzu University, Tongliao 028000, China
Meirong Bai: Key Laboratory of Mongolian Medicine Research and Development Engineering, Ministry of Education, The Medical College of Inner Mongolia Minzu University, 028000 Tongliao, Inner Mongolia, China
Liming Bao: Key Laboratory of Mongolian Medicine Research and Development Engineering, Ministry of Education, The Medical College of Inner Mongolia Minzu University, 028000 Tongliao, Inner Mongolia, China
Jingfeng Yang: Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Toxicant Monitoring and Toxicology, College of Animal Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia Minzu University, Tongliao, Inner Mongolia 028000, China
Wu Dong: Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Toxicant Monitoring and Toxicology, College of Animal Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia Minzu University, Tongliao, Inner Mongolia 028000, China; Corresponding authors.

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 160
p. 114399

Abstract

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Zhenbao pill (ZBP) is a type of traditional Mongolian medicine that contains 241 ingredients such as flavonoids, anthraquinones, triterpenoids, sterols, and Calculus bovis, which are mainly used for treating neurological diseases in clinical practice. In this study, we established an Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-mimetic symptomatic zebrafish model by AlCl3 treatment and investigated the therapeutic effect of ZBP on the AD-mimetic zebrafish model. The results revealed that AlCl3 treatment led to behavioral impairment, induced apoptotic cell (body) in the brain, increased acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, and decreased the ACh content in zebrafish. After treatment with ZBP, 16 μg/mL ZBP could alleviate the behavioral disorder of zebrafish larvae. This effect was found superior to the effect of the cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil hydrochloride. The analysis of transcriptomics data revealed that ZBP mainly acted on apoptosis, the p53 signaling pathway, and the enrichment of the AChE-associated pathway. Furthermore, the overexpression of AChE RNA produced similar AD-mimetic disorders, whereas AChE-gene knockdown (AChE-MO) decreased the AChE activity and alleviated the AD-mimetic symptoms. These results suggested that ZBP is a potential cholinergic-enhancing drug, which can be used for the treatment of AD in the future.

Published in Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy

ISSN: 0753-3322 (Print); 1950-6007 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: France
LCC subjects: Medicine: Therapeutics. Pharmacology
Website: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/biomedicine-and-pharmacotherapy

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