Smart Soup, a traditional Chinese medicine formula, ameliorates amyloid pathology and related cognitive deficits

Yujun Hou; Ying Wang; Jian Zhao; Xiaohang Li; Jin Cui; Jianqing Ding; Ying Wang; Xianglu Zeng; Yun Ling; Xiaoheng Shen; Shengdi Chen; Chenggang Huang; Gang Pei

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0111215

Smart Soup, a traditional Chinese medicine formula, ameliorates amyloid pathology and related cognitive deficits

PLoS One. 2014 Nov 11;9(11):e111215. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111215. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Yujun Hou¹, Ying Wang², Jian Zhao¹, Xiaohang Li¹, Jin Cui¹, Jianqing Ding², Ying Wang³, Xianglu Zeng¹, Yun Ling⁴, Xiaoheng Shen⁵, Shengdi Chen², Chenggang Huang⁴, Gang Pei⁶

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
² Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
³ Department of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Signaling and Disease Research, School of Life Science and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that causes substantial public health care burdens. Intensive efforts have been made to find effective and safe disease-modifying treatment and symptomatic intervention alternatives against AD. Smart Soup (SS), a Chinese medicine formula composed of Rhizoma Acori Tatarinowii (AT), Poria cum Radix Pini (PRP) and Radix Polygalae (RP), is a typical prescription against memory deficits. Here, we assessed the efficacy of SS against AD. Oral administration of SS ameliorated the cognitive impairment of AD transgenic mice, with reduced Aβ levels, retarded Aβ amyloidosis and reduced Aβ-induced gliosis and neuronal loss in the brains of AD mice. Consistently, SS treatment reduced amyloid-related locomotor dysfunctions and premature death of AD transgenic Drosophila. Mechanistic studies showed that RP reduced Aβ generation, whereas AT and PRP exerted neuroprotective effects against Aβ. Taken together, our study indicates that SS could be effective against AD, providing a practical therapeutic strategy against the disease.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Alzheimer Disease / drug therapy*
Amyloid Neuropathies / drug therapy*
Amyloid beta-Peptides / genetics
Amyloid beta-Peptides / metabolism
Animals
Cells, Cultured
Cognition Disorders / drug therapy
Disease Models, Animal
Drosophila
Gliosis / drug therapy
Maze Learning / drug effects
Medicine, Chinese Traditional*
Mice
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Mice, Transgenic
Neurons / pathology
Neuroprotective Agents / therapeutic use*
Plant Preparations / therapeutic use*
Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / genetics

Substances

Amyloid beta-Peptides
Neuroprotective Agents
Plant Preparations
beta-amyloid precursor protein kinase I
Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases

Grants and funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (31371419), Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-EW-Q-1-01, KSCX2-YW-R-252), National Science and Technology Support Program (2012BAI10B03), the Ministry of Science and Technology (2011CB910202) and Shanghai Municipal Commission for Science and Technology (13401900600). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.