title: Saponins from Aralia taibaiensis attenuate D-galactose-induced aging in rats by activating FOXO3a and Nrf2 pathways.
abstract: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are closely related to the aging process. In our previous studies, we found that the saponins from Aralia taibaiensis have potent antioxidant activity, suggesting the potential protective activity on the aging. However, the protective effect of the saponins and the possible underlying molecular mechanism remain unknown. In the present study, we employed a D-galactose-induced aging rat model to investigate the protective effect of the saponins. We found that D-galactose treatment induced obvious aging-related changes such as the decreased thymus and spleen coefficients, the increased advanced glycation end products (AGEs) level, senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SAβ-gal) activity, and malondialdehyde (MDA) level. Further results showed that Forkhead box O3a (FOXO3a), nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), and their targeted antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione (GSH), glutamate-cysteine ligase (GCL), and heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) were all inhibited in the aging rats induced by D-galactose treatment. Saponins supplementation showed effective protection on these changes. These results demonstrate that saponins from Aralia taibaiensis attenuate the D-galactose-induced rat aging. By activating FOXO3a and Nrf2 pathways, saponins increase their downstream multiple antioxidants expression and function, at least in part contributing to the protection on the D-galactose-induced aging in rats.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Medicine School, The Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710004, China.
authors.forename: Ying-Na
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Toxicology, The Key Laboratory of Free Radical Biology and Medicine of Shaanxi Province, The Center of Prevention and Treatment on ROS-Induced Injury of FMMU, School of Preventive Medicine, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China ; School of Life Science, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Toxicology, The Key Laboratory of Free Radical Biology and Medicine of Shaanxi Province, The Center of Prevention and Treatment on ROS-Induced Injury of FMMU, School of Preventive Medicine, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China.
authors.forename: Miao-Miao
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Xi
authors.affiliation: Department of Toxicology, The Key Laboratory of Free Radical Biology and Medicine of Shaanxi Province, The Center of Prevention and Treatment on ROS-Induced Injury of FMMU, School of Preventive Medicine, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China.
authors.forename: Pei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Toxicology, The Key Laboratory of Free Radical Biology and Medicine of Shaanxi Province, The Center of Prevention and Treatment on ROS-Induced Injury of FMMU, School of Preventive Medicine, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China.
authors.forename: Xue-Ying
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Toxicology, The Key Laboratory of Free Radical Biology and Medicine of Shaanxi Province, The Center of Prevention and Treatment on ROS-Induced Injury of FMMU, School of Preventive Medicine, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China.
authors.forename: Shuang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Department of Toxicology, The Key Laboratory of Free Radical Biology and Medicine of Shaanxi Province, The Center of Prevention and Treatment on ROS-Induced Injury of FMMU, School of Preventive Medicine, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China.
authors.forename: Chun-Xu
authors.initials: CX
authors.lastname: Hai
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, China.
authors.forename: Jin-Gang
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Toxicology, The Key Laboratory of Free Radical Biology and Medicine of Shaanxi Province, The Center of Prevention and Treatment on ROS-Induced Injury of FMMU, School of Preventive Medicine, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China.
authors.forename: Xu-Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Qin
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000187:drug effects*; D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism; D027983:Aralia / Q000737:chemistry*; D000071316:Forkhead Box Protein O3; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D005690:Galactose; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008315:Malondialdehyde / Q000378:metabolism; D051267:NF-E2-Related Factor 2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012503:Saponins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects*; D013154:Spleen / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; C499515:FOXO3 protein, rat; D000071316:Forkhead Box Protein O3; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; D051267:NF-E2-Related Factor 2; D012503:Saponins; D008315:Malondialdehyde; D005690:Galactose