Danggui-Shaoyao-San (DSS) Ameliorates Cerebral Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury via Activating SIRT1 Signaling and Inhibiting NADPH Oxidases

Yunxia Luo; Hansen Chen; Bun Tsoi; Qi Wang; Jiangang Shen

doi:10.3389/fphar.2021.653795

Danggui-Shaoyao-San (DSS) Ameliorates Cerebral Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury via Activating SIRT1 Signaling and Inhibiting NADPH Oxidases

Front Pharmacol. 2021 Apr 15:12:653795. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.653795. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Yunxia Luo^{1

2

3

4}, Hansen Chen², Bun Tsoi², Qi Wang^{1

4}, Jiangang Shen^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Science and Technology Innovation Center, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China.
² School of Chinese Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
³ Department of Endocrinology, Fourth Clinical Medical College, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Shenzhen, China.
⁴ Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Danggui-Shayao-San (DSS) is a famous Traditional Chinese Medicine formula that used for treating pain disorders and maintaining neurological health. Recent studies indicate that DSS has neuroprotective effects against ischemic brain damage but its underlining mechanisms remain unclear. Herein, we investigated the neuroprotective mechanisms of DSS for treating ischemic stroke. Adult male Sprague-Dawley (S.D.) rats were subjected to 2 h of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) plus 22 h of reperfusion. Both ethanol extract and aqueous extract of DSS (12 g/kg) were orally administrated into the rats at 30 min prior to MCAO ischemic onset. We found that 1) ethanol extract of DSS, instead of aqueous extract, reduced infarct sizes and improved neurological deficit scores in the post-ischemic stroke rats; 2) Ethanol extract of DSS down-regulated the expression of the cleaved-caspase 3 and Bax, up-regulated bcl-2 and attenuated apoptotic cell death in the ischemic brains; 3) Ethanol extract of DSS decreased the production of superoxide and peroxynitrite; 4) Ethanol extract of DSS significantly down-regulated the expression of p67^phox but has no effect on p47^phox and iNOS statistically. 5) Ethanol extract of DSS significantly up-regulated the expression of SIRT1 in the cortex and striatum of the post-ischemic brains; 6) Co-treatment of EX527, a SIRT1 inhibitor, abolished the DSS's neuroprotective effects. Taken together, DSS could attenuate oxidative/nitrosative stress and inhibit neuronal apoptosis against cerebral ischemic-reperfusion injury via SIRT1-dependent manner.

Keywords: Danggui-Shaoyao-San; SIRT1; oxidative stress; peroxynitrite; stroke.