Identification of natural products with neuronal and metabolic benefits through autophagy induction

Autophagy. 2017 Jan 2;13(1):41-56. doi: 10.1080/15548627.2016.1240855. Epub 2016 Oct 28.

Abstract

Autophagy is a housekeeping lysosomal degradation pathway important for cellular survival, homeostasis and function. Various disease models have shown that upregulation of autophagy may be beneficial to combat disease pathogenesis. However, despite several recently reported small-molecule screens for synthetic autophagy inducers, natural chemicals of diverse structures and functions have not been included in the synthetic libraries, and characterization of their roles in autophagy has been lacking. To discover novel autophagy-regulating compounds and study their therapeutic mechanisms, we used analytic chemistry approaches to isolate natural phytochemicals from a reservoir of medicinal plants used in traditional remedies. From this pilot plant metabolite library, we identified several novel autophagy-inducing phytochemicals, including Rg2. Rg2 is a steroid glycoside chemical that activates autophagy in an AMPK-ULK1-dependent and MTOR-independent manner. Induction of autophagy by Rg2 enhances the clearance of protein aggregates in a cell-based model, improves cognitive behaviors in a mouse model of Alzheimer disease, and prevents high-fat diet-induced insulin resistance. Thus, we discovered a series of autophagy-inducing phytochemicals from medicinal plants, and found that one of the compounds Rg2 mediates metabolic and neurotrophic effects dependent on activation of the autophagy pathway. These findings may help explain how medicinal plants exert the therapeutic functions against metabolic diseases.

Keywords: AMPK; Alzheimer's disease; amyloid; autophagy induction; ginsenoside; glycoconjugate; insulin resistance; medicinal plant; phytochemical.

MeSH terms

  • Alzheimer Disease / metabolism
  • Animals
  • Autophagy*
  • Biological Products / analysis
  • Biological Products / isolation & purification*
  • Cell Survival
  • Cognition
  • Conditioning, Psychological
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Fear
  • Glycosides / chemistry
  • HeLa Cells
  • Humans
  • Insulin Resistance
  • Lysosomes / metabolism
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Mutation
  • Neurons / metabolism*
  • PC12 Cells
  • Phytochemicals / analysis
  • Phytochemicals / isolation & purification*
  • Rats
  • Steroids / chemistry
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / metabolism

Substances

  • Biological Products
  • Glycosides
  • Phytochemicals
  • Steroids
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases