Abstract
BackgroundAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is an age-related and progressive neurodegenerative disease that causes substantial public health care burdens. Intensive efforts have been made to find effective and safe treatment against AD. Salidroside (Sal) is the main effective component of Rhodiola rosea L., which has several pharmacological activities.The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of Sal in the treatment of AD transgenic Drosophila and the associated mechanisms.MethodsWe used tau transgenic Drosophila line (TAU) in which tau protein is expressed in the central nervous system and eyes by the Gal4/UAS system. After feeding flies with Sal, the lifespan and locomotor activity were recorded. We further examined the appearance of vacuoles in the mushroom body using immunohistochemistry, and detected the levels of total glycogen synthase kinase 3β (t-GSK-3β), phosphorylated GSK-3β (p-GSK-3β), t-tau and p-tau in the brain by western blot analysis.ResultsOur results showed that the longevity was improved in salidroside-fed Drosophila groups as well as the locomotor activity. We also observed less vacuoles in the mushroom body, upregulated level of p-GSK-3β and downregulated p-tau following Sal treatment.ConclusionOur data presented the evidence that Sal was capable of reducing the neurodegeneration in tau transgenic Drosophila and inhibiting neuronal loss. The neuroprotective effects of Sal were associated with its up-regulation of the p-GSK-3β and down-regulation of the p-tau.
Highlights
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an age-related and progressive neurodegenerative disease that causes substantial public health care burdens
Sal prolonged the lifespan of AD transgenic flies Drosophila AD models were generated by expressing human tau, which have been assisted in the identification of novel targets for therapy [29]
These models show intracellular neurofibrillary tangles consisting of hyperphosphorylated tau protein and significant reduction in longevity [29, 30]
Summary
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an age-related and progressive neurodegenerative disease that causes substantial public health care burdens. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive and fatal brain disorder, and affects approximately 36 million people worldwide. This number is expected to double during the 20 years [1]. The tau hypothesis suggests that neurofibrillary tangles in the brain represent a major component of the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease [4], which is attributable to an abnormal phosphorylation of tau protein in the brains of AD patients. Zhang et al Translational Neurodegeneration (2016) 5:21 leads to microtubule destabilization, disruption of the axonal transport system, and the formation of intracellular neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). Many researches have discovered a great deal of pharmaceutical treatments for AD, no effective compound has been found so far for this debilitating neurodegenerative disease
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