Title:Anti-Alzheimer's Disease Target and Beneficial Effect in Formononetin
Volume: 21
Issue: 4
Author(s): Hai Xiao, Yuan Nong, Yiqing Huang, Xingyue Qin, Meizhen Liu, Lixiu Qin and Bin Yang*
Affiliation:
- College of Pharmacy,
Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, Guangxi, PR China
Keywords:
Formononetin, Alzheimer's disease, cell growth, pharmacological activity, biomarker, neuropathology.
Abstract:
Introduction: Alzheimer's Disease (AD), a common neurodegenerative relevance of
dementia, is spreading in the world. Hitherto, the pharmacological treatment for AD is prescribed
limitedly in clinical application. Recently, it has been found that naturally occurring extracts
possess promising anti-neurodegenerative properties, including AD.
Method: Our previous study indicated that formononetin (FMN) exerts the anti-AD benefits
based on bioinformatics analysis. However, the experimental validation for bioinformatics findings
has not been conducted. In this study, we primarily applied the molecule docking analysis
to ascertain the pharmacological targets, including cytochrome P450 19A1 (CYP19A1). Transgenic
AD mice were used to validate the bioinformatics findings in vivo experimentally. Molecular
docking data showed that FMN acted directly on CYP19A1 target protein with effective
binding sites and potent combining affinity/energy.
Results: Meanwhile, FMN intervention contributed to an increased trend of body weight in
transgenic AD mice reduced hippocampal expression of Aβ1-42, and elevated content of
CYP19A1. Additionally, FMN intervention showed reduced terminal deoxynucleotidyl Transferase
dUTP Nick-End Labeling (TUNEL) expression and increased CYP19A1 and Ki67 expressions
in hippocampal sections of transgenic AD mice.
Conclusion: Collectively, FMN may be used for the prevention of AD, and the pharmacological
activities are possibly related to reducing Aβ1-42, and TUNEL expressions to increase Ki67
and CYP19A1 activities.