Berberine: Pathways to protect neurons

Abstract

Berberine, an isoquinoline alkaloid, is demonstrated to have a variety of pharmacologic effects. Widely used as nonprescription drug for diarrhea, berberine has also broadened its applications in therapies of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, tumor, and so forth. However, researches about berberine's protective effects on nervous system are still so insufficient that clinical uses cannot popularize and underlying molecules mechanisms are confused and incomplete. Well-known pathways such as Pl3K/Akt/Bcl-2 pathway, Nrf2/HO-1 pathway, and MAPK signaling pathway help berberine to protect neurons through antiapoptotic, antioxidative, and anti-inflammatory activities. New hypotheses have been raised consistently to explore more possible ways of berberine preventing nerves from injuries as attention on its neuroprotective properties is increasing. Therefore, this review is trying to analyze these mechanisms, which actually play roles in neuronal disease models such as brain ischemia, Alzheimer's disease, and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Much more understanding about how berberine mediates these pathways provides novel insights into the clinical treatment of neurological disorders.

Berberine for prevention of dementia associated with diabetes and its comorbidities: A systematic review

“…Growing evidence suggests that both AD and VaD are associated with diabetes [7,8,15,16,215,216], and the risk of dementia development could be reduced by successful intervention of diabetes and its comorbidities [13,215,217]. As summarized in previous review articles, berberine is a promising antidiabetic agent [20,21,24,163], and preclinical evidence suggests that berberine has neuroprotective effects [25,[218][219][220][221]. Here, we collectively evaluated the effectiveness of berberine as a treatment for diabetes-associated dementia by two database searches (Fig.…”

“…Therapeutic benefits of berberine in treating T2DM and metabolic syndrome (MetS) have been reviewed previously [20,21,24]. In addition, preclinical evidence suggests that berberine has neuroprotective activities [25,26]. However, there is no comprehensive review to discuss the potential use of berberine as a treatment for dementia associated with metabolic dysfunctions.…”

Therapeutic and biological activities of berberine: The involvement of Nrf2 signaling pathway

“…24 Brb metabolisms is very high since of liver acts as a significant role in the metabolism of Brb, which causes a reduction in the bioavailability of Brb. 25 The low bioavailability has remarkably reduced the potential of Brb for using in clinical applications. Therefore, much attention has been made towards the nanostrategies as promising candidates for improving the bioavailability of Brb.…”

Chemical structures and biological activities of anti-AD natural products

“…[47] , 显著降低AD模型大鼠 海马和大脑皮层的AChE活性(50或100 mg/kg) [48] , 显 著地改善记忆障碍. 还可通过调控各信号传导通路 (Pl3K/Akt/Bcl-2通路、Nrf2/HO-1通路、MAPK通路 等)起到保护神经元的作用 [49] . 此外, 小檗碱可降低Aβ 和APP水平, 减少Aβ在海马体内的沉积 [50] .…”