Therapy of Dredging the Bowels Enhanced the Neuroprotective Effect of Nourishing Kidney Herbs on Hippocampal Cholinergic System in Alzheimer's Disease Model Rat Induced by A β 1-42

Lu-Da Feng; Yang Tian; Xin Wang; Run Dai; Song Cai; Yu-Jia Cao; Yin-Chu Si

doi:10.1155/2018/3282385

Therapy of Dredging the Bowels Enhanced the Neuroprotective Effect of Nourishing Kidney Herbs on Hippocampal Cholinergic System in Alzheimer's Disease Model Rat Induced by A β 1-42

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2018 Sep 12:2018:3282385. doi: 10.1155/2018/3282385. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Lu-Da Feng¹, Yang Tian^{2

3}, Xin Wang⁴, Run Dai¹, Song Cai¹, Yu-Jia Cao¹, Yin-Chu Si⁵

Affiliations

¹ Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100700, China.
² Dongfang Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100078, China.
³ Neuroscience Department, Tufts University, Boston MA, 02111, USA.
⁴ Research Center of TCM Information Engineering, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China.
⁵ Department of Anatomy, School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China.

Abstract

Background: Therapy of nourishing kidney has been used for treating memory deficits of Alzheimer's disease (AD) for thousands of years based on traditional Chinese medicine. However, we found the therapy of dredging the bowels could alleviate both memory deficits and mental symptoms of AD in clinic.

Objective: To determine whether the therapy of dredging the bowels could enhance the neuroprotective effect of nourishing kidney herbs for treating AD rats, and to explore the underlying mechanism of the combination of nourishing kidney and dredging the bowels (NKDB) herbs.

Methods: 60 rats were randomly divided into sham-operated group (SOG), model group (MG), nourishing kidney group (NKG), dredging the bowels group (DBG), nourishing kidney and dredging the bowels group (NKDBG), and donepezil hydrochloride group (DHG). The model establishment was performed by injecting Aβ 1-42 into the hippocampal CA1 region. Animals received aqueous solution of Chinese herbal medicine or western medicine while SOG received only distilled water. Ability of learning and memory were assessed by Morris water maze. Acetylcholinesterase(AChE) and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity and positive cells in the hippocampus were detected by the biochemical and immunofluorescent assay.

Results: All rats were in the same baseline. While after model establishment, ability of learning and memory of MG, NKG, DBG, NKDBG, and DHG were significantly impaired compared with SOG. Whereas after treatment, ability of learning and memory of NKG, DBG, NKDBG, and DHG were significantly improved compared with MG. Additionally, AChE activity of NKG, DBG, and NKDBG was significantly decreased, meanwhile ChAT activity showed an increased tendency. The number of AChE-positive cells and ChAT-positive cells of both NKDBG and DHG were significantly decreased and increased respectively, superior to those when compared with NKG and DBG. What's more, there was no significant difference between NKDBG and DHG.

Conclusion: Therapy of dredging the bowels could enhance the neuroprotective effect of nourishing kidney herbs by reversing morphological damage of hippocampal cholinergic system. Furthermore, treatment with NKDB herbs could be effectively against AD, providing a practical therapeutic strategy in clinic.