Ginsenoside Rg1 Ameliorates Behavioral Abnormalities and Modulates the Hippocampal Proteomic Change in Triple Transgenic Mice of Alzheimer's Disease

Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2017:2017:6473506. doi: 10.1155/2017/6473506. Epub 2017 Oct 24.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases, so far, there are no effective measures to prevent and cure this deadly condition. Ginsenoside Rg1 (Rg1) was shown to improve behavioral abnormalities in AD; however, the potential mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we pretreated 7-month-old 3xTg-AD mice for 6 weeks with Rg1 and evaluated the effects of Rg1 on the behaviors and the protein expression of hippocampal tissues. The behavioral tests showed that Rg1 could improve the memory impairment and ameliorate the depression-like behaviors of 3xTg-AD mice. Proteomic results revealed a total of 28 differentially expressed hippocampal proteins between Rg1-treated and nontreated 3xTg-AD mice. Among these proteins, complexin-2 (CPLX2), synapsin-2 (SYN2), and synaptosomal-associated protein 25 (SNP25) were significantly downregulated in the hippocampus of 3xTg-AD mice compared with the WT mice, and the treatment of Rg1 modulated the expression of CPLX2 and SNP25 in the hippocampus of 3xTg-AD mice. The expression of CPLX2, SYN2, and SNP25 was further validated by Western blot analysis. Taken together, we concluded that Rg1 could be a potential candidate drug to improve the behavioral deficits in AD via modulating the expression of the proteins (i.e., CPLX2, SYN2, and SNP25).

MeSH terms

  • Adaptor Proteins, Vesicular Transport / metabolism
  • Alzheimer Disease / drug therapy
  • Alzheimer Disease / metabolism
  • Alzheimer Disease / pathology*
  • Animals
  • Anti-Anxiety Agents / pharmacology
  • Anti-Anxiety Agents / therapeutic use
  • Behavior, Animal / drug effects
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Down-Regulation / drug effects
  • Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional
  • Female
  • Ginsenosides / pharmacology*
  • Ginsenosides / therapeutic use
  • Hippocampus / drug effects*
  • Hippocampus / metabolism
  • Isoelectric Focusing
  • Maze Learning / drug effects
  • Mice
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / metabolism
  • Proteome / analysis
  • Proteome / drug effects*
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
  • Synapsins / metabolism
  • Synaptosomal-Associated Protein 25 / metabolism

Substances

  • Adaptor Proteins, Vesicular Transport
  • Anti-Anxiety Agents
  • Ginsenosides
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins
  • Proteome
  • Synapsins
  • Synaptosomal-Associated Protein 25
  • complexin II
  • ginsenoside Rg1