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Abstract
Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder that also involves neuroinflammation in addition to many other features. Icariin (ICA) as one of the active ingredients of Chinese herbal medicine has the immunomodulating function. This study aimed to investigate the immunotherapeutic potential of ICA on AD.
Methods: APP/PS1 mice and wild type C57BL/6 mice were subjected to orally ICA administration (60 mg/kg/d) for 8 months. Then, the ethological and biochemical experiments, such as Morris water maze assay, Aβ ELISA, blood T cell flow cytometry, and plasma and brain cytokines array, were conducted to evaluate the effects of ICA administration.
Results: ICA significantly improved spatial learning and memory retention in APP/PS1 mice. Long-term application of ICA could also reduce hippocampus Aβ deposition, modulate the differentiation of CD4+ T cells, and modulate the release of inflammatory cytokines in plasma and brain tissue.
Conclusion: ICA shows the neuroprotective effects via modulating the CD4+ T lymphocyte-related immuno-inflammatory responses in APP/PS1 mice and may be a promising drug against AD progression.
Acknowledgments
We also appreciate the central laboratory of the Jinan Central Hospital and the School of Medicine of Shandong University for providing experimental places and facilities.
This work was supported by Jinan Municipal Science and Technology Development Program (Grant No. 201212012), Primary Research & Development Plan of Shandong Province (Grant No. 2016GSF121044) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81373635).
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.