The Combination of β-Asarone and Icariin Inhibits Amyloid-β and Reverses Cognitive Deficits by Promoting Mitophagy in Models of Alzheimer’s Disease

Figure 3

Combination drug ameliorates cognitive decline and AD pathology in APP/PS1 mouse. APP/PS1 mice were treated as groups by daily gavage for 4 weeks starting from 3 months of age; then, behavioural tests were performed, and brains and serum were subjected to histological and molecular analyses. The groups include Ctrl (control), AD (APP/PS1 or PC12 cell model), ICA (icariin), β-as (β-asarone), Com (the combination of β-asarone and icariin), and DONE (donepezil). (a) Morris water maze, step-down, and step-through were tested after administration (each group, , , and ). Time spent target quadrant was decreased after administration, but the Com showed better effect. (b) The analytical performance of the MSD Aβ38, Aβ40, and Aβ42 in serum, hippocampal, and prefrontal cortex tissue assays in terms of parallelism, sensitivity, accuracy, precision, lot-to-lot variability, selectivity, and freeze/thaw stability was assessed according to published guidelines ( per group). Aβ38 in mouse hippocampus and PFC was not detected, and Aβ40 and Aβ42 revealed a significant trend in AD groups. Combination drug can inhibit the expression of Aβ40 and Aβ42. (c) APP, PS1, Aβ, BACE1, and Syn levels in hippocampal tissues with WB. (d) Representative quantification of protein expression levels between different groups. Compared with the control group, , , and ; compared with the AD group, ^# and ^##; compared with β-asarone or icarrin, ^& and ^&&; one-away ANOVA. At least three experiments were repeated independently with similar results. Full scans of all the blots are in the Supplementary Note.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)