ABSTRACT
Aim To investigate the protective effect and mechanism of madecassoside from hydrocotyle sibthorpioides (MHS)on learning and memory impair-ment induced by D-galactose (D-gal)in mice.Meth-ods Totally 75 SPF Kunming male mice were divided into normal control group,model group,low-,middle-and high-doses of MHS treated groups.The dementia models were induced with D-gal.The learning and memory functions were tested by Morris water maze, the level of Aβ1 -42 and its related proteins in the hip-pocampus was determined by Western blot,and the ex-pression of Aβ-related genes were determined by RT-PCR.Results Compared with model group,MHS markedly decreased the content of Aβ1 -42 ,inhibited the expression of APP,BACE1 and CatB,but promo-ted the expression of NEP and IDE.In addition,AHS significantly increased the expression of plasticity-relat-ed proteins including PSD-95,p-NMDAR1,p-CaMKII, p-PKACβ,PKCγ,p-CREB and BDNF.Conclusions MHS could remarkably ameliorate the learning and memory impairment induced by D-gal in mice,which may be due to its ability to inhibit the Aβgeneration and deposition and promote synaptic plasticity related protein expression.