Berberine mitigates cognitive decline in an Alzheimer’s Disease Mouse Model by targeting both tau hyperphosphorylation and autophagic clearance

• Published in: Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy Vol. 121; p. 109670
• Main Authors: Chen, Ying, Chen, Yuling, Liang, Yubin, Chen, Hongda, Ji, Xiaoying, Huang, Min
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: France Elsevier Masson SAS 01.01.2020; Elsevier
• Subjects: Alzheimer Disease - complications; Alzheimer Disease - drug therapy; Alzheimer Disease - pathology; Alzheimer Disease - physiopathology; Alzheimer’s disease; Animals; Autophagy; Autophagy - drug effects; Beclin-1 - metabolism; Berberine; Berberine - pharmacology; Berberine - therapeutic use; Cathepsin D - metabolism; Cells, Cultured; Cognitive Dysfunction - complications; Cognitive Dysfunction - drug therapy; Cognitive Dysfunction - pathology; Cognitive Dysfunction - physiopathology; Disease Models, Animal; Enzyme Activation - drug effects; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta - metabolism; Hippocampus - drug effects; Hippocampus - pathology; Hippocampus - ultrastructure; Lysosomes - drug effects; Lysosomes - metabolism; Memory - drug effects; Mice, Transgenic; Neurons - drug effects; Neurons - metabolism; Phosphorylation; Proteolysis - drug effects; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt - metabolism; Sequestosome-1 Protein - metabolism; Spatial Learning - drug effects; Tau pathology; tau Proteins - metabolism; Berberine; Tau pathology; Alzheimer’s disease; Autophagy
• ISSN: 0753-3322; 1950-6007; 1950-6007
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biopha.2019.109670

•Berberine could improve 3×Tg AD mice’s cognitive function.•Berberine could attenuate the hyperphosphorylation of tau.•Berberine could promote autophagic clearance of tau. Berberine is a natural isoquinoline alkaloid isolated from the Rhizoma coptidis. Recent advances in research throw more lights of its beneficial role towards Alzheimer’s disease (AD), including promoting β-amyloid (Aβ) clearance, as well as inhibiting Aβ production in the triple-transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease (3×Tg AD). However, it remains unclarified if berberine has an effect on tau pathology. According to our study, berberine did not only significantly improve 3×Tg AD mice’s spatial learning capacity and memory retentions, but also attenuated the hyperphosphorylation of tau. via modulating the activity of Akt/glycogen synthase kinase-3β and protein phosphatase 2A. Moreover, berberine reduced the level of tau through an autophagy-based route. It promoted autophagic clearance of tau by enhancing the activity of autophagy via the class III PI3K/beclin-1 pathway. Thus, our results suggest that berberine could mitigate cognitive decline by simultaneously targeting the hyperphosphorylation of tau and the autophagic clearance of tau in AD mice. These findings strongly support berberine as a potential drug candidate for AD.