Multi-Target Anti-Alzheimer Activities of Four Prenylated Compounds from Psoralea Fructus

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disease that is mediated by multiple signaling pathways. In recent years, the components of Psoralea Fructus (PF) have demonstrated some anti-Alzheimer effects both in vitro and in vivo. To further reveal the active compounds of PF and their mechanisms regulating key targets of AD, in this study, we identified four prenylated compounds from the 70% ethanolic aqueous extract of PF, namely bavachin, bavachinin, bavachalcone, and isobavachalcone. Multi-target bioactivity analysis showed that these compounds could differentially inhibit neuroinflammation, oxidative damage, and key AD-related protein targets, such as amyloid β-peptide 42, β-secretase, glycogen synthase kinase 3β, and acetylcholinesterase. These compounds may generate beneficial effects in AD prevention and treatment.

Keywords

• Psoraleae Fructus
• Alzheimer’s
• bavachin
• bavachinin
• bavachalcone
• isobavachalcone
• oxidative damage
• neuroinflammation
• BV-2 microglia
• amyloid β-peptide 42