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Epigallocatechin-3-gallate Alleviates Cognitive Deficits in APP/PS1 Mice

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Summary

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) shows cognitive impairments in clinic, which is multifactorial with different etiopathogenic mechanisms such as Aβ deposition, neuroinflammation and neuronal dystrophy involved. Therefore, multi-targets drugs with neuroprotective, anti-amyloidogenic and anti-inflammatory properties will be effective in AD treatment. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) possesses a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities in the prevention and treatment of multiple neurodegenerative diseases. In the present study, we showed that oral administration of EGCG (50 mg/kg) for 4 months significantly attenuated the cognitive deficits in APP/PS1 transgenic mice, which served as AD model. Moreover, EGCG induced an improvement in dendritic integrity and expression levels of synaptic proteins in the brain of APP/PS1 mice. And EGCG exerted obvious anti-inflammatory effects, which was manifested by alleviating microglia activation, decreasing pro-inflammatory cytokine (IL-1β) and increasing anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-10, IL-13). Furthermore, β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques were markedly reduced in the hippocampus of 6-month old APP/PS1 mice after EGCG treatment. In conclusion, these findings indicate that EGCG improves AD-like cognitive impairments through neuroprotective, anti-amyloidogenic and anti-inflammatory effects, thus is a promising therapeutic candidate for AD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, School of Medicine, Jianghan University, Wuhan, 430056, China

    Jian Bao, Wei Liu, Hong-yan Zhou, Meng-juan Wu, Yi-fan Xiao & Xi-ji Shu

  2. Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, School of Medicine, Jianghan University, Wuhan, 430056, China

    Yu-ran Gui

  3. Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Jianghan University, Wuhan, 430056, China

    You-hua Yang

  4. Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, Jianghan University, Wuhan, 430056, China

    Jin-ting Shang

  5. School of Life Science, Jianghan University, Wuhan, 430056, China

    Gui-feng Long

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  1. Jian Bao
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Correspondence to Xi-ji Shu.

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The authors have no conflict of interest.

This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31800851).

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Bao, J., Liu, W., Zhou, Hy. et al. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate Alleviates Cognitive Deficits in APP/PS1 Mice. CURR MED SCI 40, 18–27 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-020-2142-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-020-2142-z

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