title: Neuroprotective effects of tetrandrine against vascular dementia.
abstract: Tetrandrine is one of the major active ingredients in Menispermaceae Stephania tetrandra S. Moore, and has specific therapeutic effects in ischemic cerebrovascular disease. Its use in vascular dementia has not been studied fully. Here, we investigated whether tetrandrine would improve behavioral and cellular impairments in a two-vessel occlusion rat model of chronic vascular dementia. Eight weeks after model establishment, rats were injected intraperitoneally with 10 or 30 mg/kg tetrandrine every other day for 4 weeks. Behavioral assessment in the Morris water maze showed that model rats had longer escape latencies in training trials, and spent less time swimming in the target quadrant in probe trials, than sham-operated rats. However, rats that had received tetrandrine showed shorter escape latencies and longer target quadrant swimming time than untreated model rats. Hematoxylin-eosin and Nissl staining revealed less neuronal necrosis and pathological damage, and more living cells, in the hippocampus of rats treated with tetrandrine than in untreated model rats. Western blot assay showed that interleukin-1β expression, and phosphorylation of the N-methyl-D-aspartate 2B receptor at tyrosine 1472, were lower in model rats that received tetrandrine than in those that did not. The present findings suggest that tetrandrine may be neuroprotective in chronic vascular dementia by reducing interleukin-1β expression, N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor 2B phosphorylation at tyrosine 1472, and neuronal necrosis.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Research Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Ling
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology of the State Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Ze-Zhi
authors.initials: ZZ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Research Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Li-Xue
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9132-1891
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Research Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Bai-Xue
authors.initials: BX
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Research Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Lian-Lian
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Research Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Guang-Cheng
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Research Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Bei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gui
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Research Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Ji-Ying
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Zhou
keywords: N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor 2B phosphorylation at tyrosine 1472; N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor 2B; interleukin-1β; ischemic cerebrovascular disease; nerve regeneration; neural regeneration; neuronal necrosis; tetrandrine; vascular dementia