Effects of Active Components of Epimedium， Astragalus and Radix Puerariae on the Expression of FPN1 in Cerebral Cortex in Alzheimer's Disease Model Mice

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of the active components of epimedium， astragalus and radix puerariae on FPN1 expression in the cerebral cortex of APPswe/PS1dE9 double transgenic Alzheimer's disease (AD) model mice. METHODS A total of 60 specific pathogen-free male APPswe/PS1dE9 double transgenic mice aged 6 months were equally and randomly divided into the model group， epimedium group， astragalus group， radix puerariae group， compound group and deferoxamine(DFO) group. Additional 10 of 6 months old C57BL/6J mice were chosen as normal control group. After the medication， the mouse brain tissue of every group were collected， and immunohistochemistry， Real time PCR and Western blot were used to detect the effects of active components of epimedium， astragalus and radix puerariae on FPN1 expression in the cerebral cortex of APPswe/PS1dE9 double transgenic mouse model of AD. RESULTS No FPN1 positional cells was observed in negative control group.The mRNA and protein expression of FPN1 decreased in the cerebral cortex of the model group（P<0.05）， compared with the control group. The mRNA and protein expression of FPN1 increased in the compound group and DFO group， compared to the model group. Compared to DFO group， no significant difference was observed in compounde group in the mRNA and protein expression of FPN1 in cerebral cortex; FPN1 mRNA expression decreased in the epimedium group， astragalus group and radix puerariae group. CONCLUSION Active components of epimedium， astragalus and radix puerariae can upregulate FPN1 expression and inhibit the ironoverload in the cerebral cortex of mice with Alzheimer's disease， which will mitigate the iron overload-induced impairment of the central nervous system.