Chronic neuroinflammation is closely associated with the development of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). In the current study, 13 anti-neuroinflammatory compounds were isolated from Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. leaves. Among these compounds, trans-sinapaldehyde (6), 3',4',5,7-tetrahydroxy-3-methylflavone (7), and amarusine A (13) were isolated from E. ulmoides leaves for the first time. The ursane-type C29-triterpenoid, ulmoidol (ULM, 9), significantly inhibited the production of proinflammatory mediators and reduced the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). Moreover, ULM inhibited the cluster of differentiation 14 (CD14)/Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling pathway and consequently limited the activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways. Notably, electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) and molecular docking analyses indicated that ULM could prevent PU box binding-1 (PU.1) from binding to DNA, suggesting that PU.1 might be a potential ULM target. In conclusion, ULM alleviates neuroinflammatory responses in microglia, which could be partly explained by its targeting of PU.1 and the resulting suppression of the TLR4/MAPK/NF-κB signaling pathways. These results suggested that ULM may have therapeutic potential as an agent for treating neuroinflammation-related neurodegenerative diseases.
Keywords: Eucommia ulmoides; Neuroinflammation; Oliver; ursane triterpenoid.
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