Class 05

Student number

054 120 150

surname

Wang Rui

Title of graduation thesis

Effect of catalpol on aging neurons induced by D- galactose

Starting and ending time of graduation thesis

February 2009 to June 2009

Lecturer's name

Zhang Xiuli

professional title

Doctoral students and lecturers

Background introduction:

With the increasing proportion and absolute number of middle-aged and elderly people in the world, the incidence of aging-related diseases in the population has increased significantly, and aging-related diseases have become an important challenge for scientists. Because this kind of disease is often accompanied by serious cognitive and mental disorders, even paralysis and sensory disorders [1], it seriously harms the health of the elderly and brings a heavy burden to the family and society. Therefore, exploring the mechanism of brain aging, studying effective drugs to delay the aging process and preventing senile diseases have become an important topic in today's society and medical field.

Among many senile diseases, the prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases is increasing year by year, which has become a major social problem affecting people's health level and quality of life. Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's Harmo's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Huntington's disease, are progressive sexual dysfunction and degenerative diseases caused by abnormal degeneration of the central nervous system. Among them, the prevalence of senile dementia accounts for 4.6% of the elderly population, and half of them are senile primary degenerative dementia. Epidemiological investigation also shows that the incidence of senile primary degenerative dementia is 2.9% among people over 65 years old. The disease has a complex pathophysiological process, influenced by gene regulation and various environmental factors, and its etiology and pathogenesis are still unclear. Without effective clinical measures to control the progress of this kind of disease, patients will eventually lose their ability to live or even die. At present, China's population aging rate ranks first in the world, and the elderly population has exceeded 654.38+0 billion. It is urgent to find effective drugs to prevent and treat senile diseases.

China traditional medicine has a long history and remarkable curative effect. It is a splendid treasure of China traditional culture. In thousands of years of practice and development, it has formed its own unique theoretical system. Especially for difficult and chronic diseases, Chinese medicine has its uniqueness. Traditional Chinese medicine has the characteristics of multi-target and multi-effect, which can not only improve and relieve symptoms, but also improve the body's disease resistance and cure diseases, with few side effects and rich drug sources. Traditional Chinese medicine has accumulated a lot of valuable knowledge in the clinical experience of treating Alzheimer's disease and memory loss for thousands of years. Since the 1980s, the research on traditional Chinese medicine has been widely concerned because of the practical problems such as technical difficulties, high price, obvious toxic and side effects and serious environmental pollution in the development of chemical drugs.

Rehmannia glutinosa is a commonly used nourishing Chinese medicine, which is the fresh rhizome or dried root tuber of Rehmannia glutinosa. It was first seen in Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica and was listed as the top grade [5]. Rehmannia glutinosa has a medicinal history of 1000 years in China, which is widely used and has certain curative effects on immunity, blood, endocrine, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, nervous system, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory. Single rehmannia glutinosa [7] and compound prescription mainly rehmannia glutinosa have a long history of application in the treatment of aging and related diseases. Modern pharmacological experiments show that its main active components are iridoid glycosides and rehmannia glutinosa.

Catalpol is the highest content iridoid glycoside in Rehmannia glutinosa, belonging to epoxy ether monoterpene. At present, our laboratory has proved that catalpol has neuroprotective effect on cells and animals, and it may become a potential drug for delaying aging and treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Because aging is the fundamental factor of various neurodegenerative diseases, it is of great significance to study the anti-aging effect of catalpol in the prevention and treatment of such diseases [8-9].

It was found in the early stage of the experiment that catalpol can improve the memory loss induced by D- galactose in aging mice, and at the same time improve the antioxidant capacity and energy metabolism disorder of brain tissue. Therefore, in this study, the anti-aging mechanism of catalpol was further studied by using the neuron aging model induced by D- galactose, which laid a certain foundation for the research and development and clinical application of this drug.

Research significance:

There are few reports about aging nerve cell models induced by 1 and D- galactose. Clarifying the mechanism of the model is helpful to the screening and mechanism research of anti-aging drugs.

2. Catalpol has obvious effect on aging animal model, and the study of cell model is helpful to clarify the molecular mechanism of catalpol's anti-aging effect.

Research content:

The primary culture of mouse brain neurons was used, and the aging of neurons was induced by D- galactose in vitro. The effects of catalpol on neurons were studied, and the comprehensive indexes such as cell morphological observation, cell viability and apoptosis were determined.

During the experiment, the neuroprotective mechanism of catalpol in vitro was studied by immunohistochemical staining and fluorescence staining techniques, flow cytometry, fluorescence microscope, ultraviolet spectrophotometer and fluorescence enzyme-labeled instrument.

Expected results and level: catalpol has protective effect on aging of mouse brain neurons induced by D- galactose.

Therefore, in this study, the primary cultured cortical neurons of SD rats were used to observe the pseudo-aging reaction of D- galactose culture on neurons from the aspects of ultrastructure, cell cycle analysis and SA-β- galactosidase chemical staining, and the anti-aging effect of catalpol was studied from the biochemical aspect.

Emphasis and difficulty of research:

1. Master the experimental techniques of primary neuron cell culture and immunohistochemistry.

2. Clarify the concentration and time range of neuron aging induced by D- galactose.

3. To explore the mechanism of neuron aging induced by D- galactose.

4. To clarify the effect of catalpol on aging neurons induced by D- galactose.