Saponins in Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease and Their Mechanism of Action： A Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Alzheimer's disease（AD） is an irreversible neurodegenerative disease with clinical manifestations such as memory impairment， aphasia， impaired visuospatial skills， executive function impairment， and personality changes. AD has brought a heavy burden to the family and society due to its unrevealed pathogenesis and the lack of therapeutic approaches. Saponins， a group of oligoglycosides whose aglycones are triterpenes or spirosteroids， are divided into triterpene saponins and steroidal saponins， which have a variety of biological activities. At present， there is no systematic review on the anti-AD effect of saponins. According to the literature published in recent years， the authors summarized the studies of saponins in improving AD based on animal experiments. The results indicated that saponins enhanced learning ability and improved cognitive impairment by inhibiting amyloid β-protein （Aβ） cascade activity， suppressing microtubule-associated protein （tau） hyperphosphorylation， inhibiting neuronal oxidative stress， inhibiting inflammatory factors， regulating apoptosis， inhibiting cholinergic neuronal degeneration， promoting mitochondrial autophagy， regulating intestinal flora， and enhancing energy metabolism， which in turn improved the pathological state of AD animal models. The therapeutic effects of different saponins on AD are different. The present study discussed the effect of different aglycones and sugar chains on the anti-AD activity based on saponins and anti-AD effect to provide new ideas and a theoretical basis for the development and utilization of saponins.