Drug Design, Development and Therapy (Sep 2020)

Pinocembrin Ameliorates Cognitive Impairment Induced by Vascular Dementia: Contribution of Reelin-dab1 Signaling Pathway

  • Kang ZC,
  • Wang HG,
  • Yang YL,
  • Zhao XY,
  • Zhou QM,
  • Yang YL,
  • Yang JY,
  • Du GH

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 14
pp. 3577 – 3587

Abstract

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Ze-Chun Kang,1,2 Hai-Gang Wang,2 Yu-Lin Yang,2 Xiao-Yue Zhao,2 Qi-Meng Zhou,2 Ying-Lin Yang,2 Jing-Yu Yang,1,* Guan-Hua Du1,2,* 1Department of Pharmacology, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, People’s Republic of China; 2Beijing Key Laboratory of Drug Target and Screening Research, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Jing-Yu YangDepartment of Pharmacology, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected] DuBeijing Key Laboratory of Drug Target and Screening Research, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected]: As a substrate of apoER2, Reelin has been verified to exert neuroprotection by preventing memory impairment. Pinocembrin is the most abundant natural flavonoid found in propolis, and it has been used to exert neuroprotection, blood–brain barrier protection, anti-oxidation, and inflammation diminishing, both in vitro and in vivo. However, the roles and molecular mechanisms of pinocembrin in neurobehavioral outcomes and neuronal repair after vascular dementia are still under investigation.Purpose: To explore the role of pinocembrin in the involvement of the Reelin-dab1 signaling pathway in improving memory impairment, both in cell culture and animals experiments.Material and Methods: Behavioral tests were conducted on day 48 to confirm the protection of pinocembrin against cognitive impairment. Cell and molecular biology experiments demonstrated that the Reelin-dab1 pathway mediates the underlying mechanism of cognitive improvement by pinocembrin.Results: It was showed that pinocembrin alleviated learning and memory deficits induced by vascular dementia, by inducing the expression of Reelin, apoER2, and p-dab1 in the hippocampus. The expression of Reelin and p-dab1 was both inhibited following Reelin RNA interference in SH-SY5Y prior to oxygen glucose deprivation (OGD) injury, suggesting that Reelin played a core role in pinocembrin’s effect on OGD in vitro.Conclusion: Pinocembrin improves the cognition via the Reelin-dab1 signaling pathway.Keywords: pinocembrin, Reelin, vascular dementia, hippocampus, cognitive impairment, signaling pathway

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