机构:[1]Science and Technology Innovation Center, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510405, China深圳市中医院深圳医学信息中心[2]The Second Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510404, China广东省中医院深圳市中医院深圳医学信息中心[3]Division of Data Intelligence, Department of Computer Science, Key Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing Technology of Ministry of Education, Shantou University, Shantou, China[4]Department of Cancer Immunology and Virology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, 02215, United States[5]Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States
Background: Medicarpin is a natural pterocarpan-type phytoalexin widely distributed in many traditional Chinese medicines, such as Astragali Radix. A previous study showed that Astragali Radix demonstrated promising protective effects in neurons. However, there is no reported study on the neuroprotective function and the underlying mechanism of Medicarpin. Purpose: This study aimed to demonstrate the neuroprotective effect of Medicarpin on Alzheimer's disease (AD) and explore the therapeutic mechanisms. Method: First, we carried out animal behavioral tests and biochemical analysis to assess the anti-AD potential of Medicarpin for ameliorating spatial learning and memory and modulating cholinergic metabolism in scopolamine-induced amnesic mice. Subsequently, network proximity prediction was used to measure the network distance between the Medicarpin target network and AD-related endophenotype module. We identified Medicarpin-regulated AD pathological processes and highlighted the key disease targets via network analysis. Finally, experimental approaches including Nissl staining and Western blotting were conducted to validate our network-based findings. Result: In this study, we first observed that Medicarpin can ameliorate cognitive and memory dysfunction and significantly modulate cholinergic metabolism in scopolamine-induced amnesic mice. We then proposed an endophenotype network-based framework to comprehensively explore the AD therapeutic mechanisms of Medicarpin by integrating 25 AD-related endophenotype modules, gold-standard AD seed genes, an experimentally validated drug-target network of Medicarpin, and a global human protein-protein interactome. In silico prediction revealed that the effect of Medicarpin is highly relevant to neuronal apoptosis and synaptic plasticity, which was validated by experimental assays. Network analysis and Western blotting further identified two key targets, GSK-3 beta and MAPK14 (p38), in the AD-related protein regulatory network, which play key roles in the regulation of neuronal apoptosis and synaptic plasticity by Medicarpin. Conclusions: This study presented a powerful endophenotype network-based strategy to explore the mechanisms of action (MOAs) of new AD therapeutics, and first identified Medicarpin as a potential anti-AD candidate by targeting multiple pathways.
基金:
National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82074278 and 81903912), Key laboratory project of colleges and universities in Guangdong province (No. 2019KSYS005), the Youth Scientific Research Training Project of GZUCM (No. 2019QNPY05), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project (2019M662878) and Guangdong province science and technology plan international cooperation project (No. 2020A0505100052).
第一作者机构:[1]Science and Technology Innovation Center, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510405, China[2]The Second Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510404, China
共同第一作者:
通讯作者:
通讯机构:[1]Science and Technology Innovation Center, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510405, China[5]Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States[*1]Science and Technology Innovation Center, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, 12 Jichang Road, Baiyun District, Guangzhou 510405, China
推荐引用方式(GB/T 7714):
Li Dongli,Cai Chuipu,Liao Yanfang,et al.Systems pharmacology approach uncovers the therapeutic mechanism of medicarpin against scopolamine-induced memory loss[J].PHYTOMEDICINE.2021,91:doi:10.1016/j.phymed.2021.153662.
APA:
Li, Dongli,Cai, Chuipu,Liao, Yanfang,Wu, Qihui,Ke, Hanzhong...&Fang, Shuhuan.(2021).Systems pharmacology approach uncovers the therapeutic mechanism of medicarpin against scopolamine-induced memory loss.PHYTOMEDICINE,91,
MLA:
Li, Dongli,et al."Systems pharmacology approach uncovers the therapeutic mechanism of medicarpin against scopolamine-induced memory loss".PHYTOMEDICINE 91.(2021)