Primary objective: This study aimed to investigate the effects of low-, medium-, and high-dose puerarin on cognitive impairment induced by 50% alcohol in mice and revealed the role of autophagy-related signaling pathways (mTOR and JNK pathways) in this process.
Research design: The alcohol-induced brain injury model was treated with different concentrations of puerarin. The cognitive function of mice was evaluated by the behavioral test, and the changes of target proteins in hippocampus of each experimental group were detected.
Methods and procedures: 40 female Kunming mice were randomly divided into 5 groups. The cognitive ability of mice was tested by Morris water maze, the morphological changes in the CA1 area of hippocampus were observed by HE staining, and the target proteins in hippocampus were measured by WB and IHC.
Main outcomes and results: Compared with the 50% alcohol group, the expression of p-mTOR/mTOR and p-4E-BP1/4E-BP1 in hippocampus was significantly decreased, while the expression of p-JNK/JNK, Beclin1, and LC3 was significantly increased in the medium- and high-dose puerarin groups.
Conclusions: Puerarin could improve the cognitive impairment induced by 50% alcohol. The mTOR and JNK pathways related to autophagy might be involved in this process.
Keywords: JNK signaling pathway; Puerarin; alcohol; autophagy; learning and memory; mTOR signaling pathway.