Abstract

Being one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease, β-amyloid (Aβ) aggregates induce complicated neurotoxicity. Evidences show that the underlying mechanism of neurotoxicity involves a glutamate receptor subtype, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, an increase in intracellular calcium( II) ion loading as well as an elevation in oxidation stress. In this work, among the 35 chemical components of Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) being screened for inhibitors of Aβ aggregation, four of them, namely albiflorin, aloeemodin, neohesperidin and physcion, were found for the first time to exhibit a potent inhibitory effect on Aβ_1-40 and Aβ_1-42 aggregation. Their neuroprotective capability on primary hippocampal neuronal cells was also investigated by MTT assay, ROS assay and intracellular calcium(II) ion concentration measurement. It was interesting to find that physcion was rather toxic to neuronal cells while albiflorin, aloeemodin and neohesperidin reduced the toxicity and ROS induced by both monomeric and oligomeric Aβ species. In addition, albiflorin was particularly powerful in maintaining the intracellular Ca²⁺ concentration.

Keywords: Amyloid aggregation, calcium influx, herbs, inhibitors, neuroprotection, reactive oxygen species.