Berberine ameliorates lipopolysaccharide-induced cognitive impairment. - GreenMedInfo Summary

The inflammatory response is the stress reactions to infection or injury so as to help the body return to normal as soon as possible. In central nervous system, the over activated immune system causes irreversible damage to neurons and synapses,which results in cognitive impairment. Berberine,an isoquinoline alkaloid extracted from Coptidis Rhizoma,plays a powerful role in anti-inflammation.It has been reported that berberine significantly improved the decline of cognitive ability.Therefore,we carried out this work to find out the specific mechanism.We tested behaviourally that berberine administration did improve lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cognitive impairment in C57BL/6J mice. We found that berberine reduced neuronal damage in the hippocampus by Nissl staining, and verified by Western blot and immunofluorescence that berberine improved LPS-induced cognitive impairment through the SIRT1/NRF2/NF-κB signaling pathway.The results showed that berberine plays an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant role by targeting SIRT1/NRF2/NFκB signaling pathway so as to reduce the cognitive impairment and neuronal damage caused by lipopolysaccharide in C57BL/6J mice.Berberine pre-protection increased the expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) after activating nuclear factor E2 related factor 2 (NRF2), and inhibited the activation of NF-κB and the release of iNOS, which may be related to berberine activating SIRT1. However,the effect of reducing inflammatory response was inhibited after using SIRT1 inhibitor EX527 in vitro.This research explains the significance of anti-inflammatory in the treatment of cognitive impairment from different angles. Key words: berberine;lipopolysaccharide;cognitive impairment; neuroinflammation; SIRT1.