Research Paper Volume 16, Issue 3 pp 2385—2397
Ethanol extract of Evodia lepta Merr. ameliorates cognitive impairment through inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome in scopolamine-treated mice
- 1 State Key Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndrome, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510405, China
- 2 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Cancer Research of Chinese Medicines, Joint International Research Laboratory of Translational Cancer Research of Chinese Medicines, International Institute for Translational Chinese Medicine, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510330, China
- 3 Department of Neurology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510000, China
- 4 Department of Neurology, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510435, China
- 5 Department of Gastroenterology, Shenzhen Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Shenzhen, China
Received: August 31, 2023 Accepted: December 18, 2023 Published: January 26, 2024
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.205486How to Cite
Copyright: © 2024 Hu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Evodia lepta Merr. (Evodia lepta) is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine, which has been widely used in herbal tea. We previously reported that the coumarin compounds from the root of Evodia lepta exhibited neuroprotective effects. However, whether Evodia lepta could inhibit NLRP3 inflammasome in dementia was still unknown. In this study, the components of the Evodia lepta extract were identified by HPLC-Q-TOF HRMS. We employed a scopolamine-treated mouse model. Evodia lepta extract (10 or 20 mg/kg) and donepezil were treated by gavage once a day for 14 consecutive days. Following the behavioral tests, oxidative stress levels were measured. Then, Western blot and immunofluorescence analysis were used to evaluate the expressions of NLRP3 inflammasome. 14 major components of the Evodia lepta extract were identified by HPLC-Q-TOF HRMS. The results of Morris water maze, object recognition task and open field test indicated that Evodia lepta extract could ameliorate cognitive impairment in scopolamine-treated mice. Evodia lepta extract improved cholinergic system. Moreover, Evodia lepta extract improved the expressions of PSD95 and BDNF. Evodia lepta extract suppressed neuronal oxidative stress and apoptosis. In addition, Evodia lepta extract inhibited NLRP3 inflammasome in the hippocampus of scopolamine-treated mice. Evodia lepta extract could protect against cognitive impairment by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome in scopolamine-treated mice.