Effect of Berberine Isolated from Barberry Species by Centrifugal Partition Chromatography on Memory and the Expression of Parvalbumin in the Mouse Hippocampus Proper

Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases associated with memory disturbances are important health issues occurring due to a prolonged life span. This article presents the results of a study targeting the emergence of a drug candidate with antiamnesic properties. The effect of berberine (BBR), an isoquinoline alkaloid isolated from the overground parts of Berberis sibirica Pall., on memory and expression of parvalbumin in the mouse hippocampus proper were determined. High-purity BBR was isolated by centrifugal partition chromatography from a methanolic extract from B. sibirica by using a methyl-tert-butyl ether and water (1:1 v/v) solvent system with 10 mmol/L of triethylamine and hydrochloric acid. In an in vivo study, we assessed the influence of the chronic administration of BBR on different stages of memory-related responses in mice. Our results indicated that the chronic administration of BBR in a higher dose (5 mg/kg) improves long-term memory acquisition in mice, as determined in the passive avoidance test. The hippocampal CA1–CA3 fields showed an increased number of parvalbumin-immunoreactive neurons (PV-IR) and nerve fibers as compared to the control. No significant changes in the dentate gyrus were observed between the groups. The HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS analysis of the biological material revealed the content of BBR as 363.4 ± 15.0 ng (4.11% of RSD) per brain, 15.06 ± 0.89 ng (5.91% of RSD) per hippocampus, and 54.45 ± 1.40 (4.05% of RSD) ng in 100 µL plasma. The study showed that BBR could be a factor influencing the expression of PV in hippocampal neurons. We speculate that BBR may modulate the level of Ca2+ in neurons and thus potentially act as a neuroprotective factor against neuronal damages.

Magnoflorine from Berberis vulgaris Roots—Impact on Hippocampal Neurons in Mice after Short-Term Exposure

“…A similar correlation between the increase in the average number of PV-IR neurons in the experimental groups and the control group was observed in our previous work describing the effect of another isoquinoline alkaloid, berberine, on PV neurons in mouse hippocampal fields [ 30 ].…”

Isoquinoline Alkaloids from Coptis chinensis Franch: Focus on Coptisine as a Potential Therapeutic Candidate against Gastric Cancer Cells

“…Nitrogen-containing compounds often adsorb on stationary phases and co-elute with one another, due to structural similarities when isolated using traditional separation techniques. CPC that uses no solid support is characterized by a high recovery rate and mild operation conditions which can improve the purification efficiency of alkaloids [ 48 , 49 ]. In addition, counter-current chromatography is eagerly selected to upscale the purification protocols.…”

Isolation of Alkaloids from Sinomenium acutum by Centrifugal Partition Chromatography and Their Ameliorating Effects on Dexamethasone-Induced Atrophy in C2C12 Myotubes

“…The two-phase solvent system was selected according to the K values of the target peaks 1-4 and a series of solvent systems including n-butanol-acetonitrile (or isopropanol)water (v/v/v, containing 0.1 or 0.5% triethylamine) were tested. Since sinomenine and magnoflorine are major alkaloids in S. acutum and might exist in salt form in the crude sample, the addition of triethylamine renders them in their free form to improve resolution [23,24]. Among the tested two-phase solvents systems, the n-butanol-acetonitrile-water (10:2:8, v/v/v, containing 0.5% triethylamine) system was selected for CPC separation (Table 1).…”