Copper plays a very important role in the physiological activities of the body. Copper metabolism disorders due to various reasons can disrupt the copper homeostasis of the body to cause a deficiency or excess of copper,resulting in a series of pathological processes that eventually lead to cell death and organ dysfunction. Cuproptosis,a newly discovered cell death mechanism,is related to copper overload. Cuproptosis has been confirmed in Wilson's disease,which is of great significance for future research on the mechanism and treatment of copper metabolism disorders.

To investigate the effects of on behavior and blood brain barrier (BBB) in Alzheimer's disease mice. Thirty-eight 4-month-old APP/PS1 double transgenic mice were randomly divided into three groups: model group, low-dose group and high-dose group. Saline, and 12 g·kg·d were given to each group by continuous gavage once a day for respectively. The changes in activities of daily live and fear conditioning memory behavior of mice were examined by nesting behavior test and fear conditioning test, respectively. The β-amyloid protein (Aβ) depositions in cortex and hippocampal CA1 area of mice were detected by thioflavin T staining. The CD34 and activities fibrinogen (Fib) immunofluorescence double staining were used to determine the vascular endothelial integrity and BBB exudation. Compared with model mice, activities of daily live were significantly improved in low-dose and high-dose groups (both <0.01), the fear memory ability was significantly increased in high-dose group (<0.01). The amount of Aβ deposition in cortex and hippocampal CA1 decreased significantly in high-dose group, the area ratio decreased significantly; the area ratio of Aβ deposition in hippocampal CA1 region in low-dose group also decreased (all <0.05). The proportions of CD34 positive area of cortex in low and high dose groups increased, the percentage of fibrinogen positive area decreased (all <0.05). The proportion of CD34 positive area in hippocampal CA1 region in high-dose group was significantly increased, the percentage of fibrinogen positive area decreased significantly (both <0.05). especially high-dose can improve the activities of daily live and fear conditioning memory function of APP/PS1 mice, reduce the deposition of Aβ in brain. The mechanism may be related to the reduction of BBB permeability and the protection of the integrity of BBB.
Alzheimer Disease ; Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor ; Animals ; Blood-Brain Barrier/metabolism* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Hippocampus/metabolism* ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Mice, Transgenic

OBJECTIVES: To explore the mechanism of action of Anemarrhenae Rhizoma in treatment of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) through network pharmacology analysis and experimental validation. METHODS: The active ingredients and targets of Anemarrhenae Rhizoma for treatment of AD were screened with network pharmacological methods, the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed and the core targets were analyzed, enriching Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways analysis was performed. The peripheral blood lymphocytes were extracted and lymphoblast like cell lines (LCL) were constructed and an in vitro cell model of LCL-SKNMC was established. MTT/CCK-8 method was used to detect the activity of SKNMC/LCL cells, 2 ´, 7 ´-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) probe was used to detect reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated, and immunofluorescence staining was used to detect the generation of Aβ_1-42 in the co-cultured model; Western blotting was used to detect protein expression in the co-culture model. The lifespan of N2 nematodes was observed under oxidative stress, normal state, and heat stress; ROS generated by N2 nematodes was detected by DCFH-DA probes. The paralysis time of CL4176 N2 nematodes was evaluated by paralysis assay, and Aβ deposition in the pharynx was detected by Thioflavin S (Th S) staining. RESULTS: Through network pharmacology, 15 potential active ingredients and 103 drug-disease targets were screened out. PPI analysis showed that the Anemarrhenae Rhizoma might play anti-AD roles through albumin, Akt1, tumor necrosis factor, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGFA), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), amyloid precursor protein (APP), glycogen synthase kinas (GSK) 3β and other related targets. KEGG analysis showed that the pharmacological effects of Anemarrhenae Rhizoma might involve the biological processes of Alzheimer's disease, endocrine resistance, insulin resistance; and neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-Akt signaling pathway, calcium signaling pathway, AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetes complications, neurotrophic factor signaling pathway and others. The in vitro cell experiments showed that Anemarrhenae Rhizoma was able to reduce the production of ROS and Aβ_1-42 (all P<0.01), inhibit the expression of β-secretase 1 (BACE1), APP and Aβ_1-42 proteins (all P<0.05), up-regulate the expression of p-PI3K/PI3K, p-AKT/AKT, p-GSK3β/GSK3β in SKNMC cells (all P<0.05). Studies further confirmed that Anemarrhenae Rhizoma prolonged the lifespan of C. elegans under stress and normal conditions, reduced the accumulation of ROS and the toxicity of Aβ deposition. CONCLUSIONS Anemarrhenae Rhizoma may reduce the production of Aβ in AD and inhibit its induced oxidative stress, which may be achieved by regulating the PI3K/AKT/GSK-3β pathway.