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Berberine attenuates brain aging via stabilizing redox homeostasis and inflammation in an accelerated senescence model of Wistar rats

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Abstract

Aging is a multifaceted and progressive physiological change of the organism categorized by the accumulation of deteriorating processes, which ultimately compromise the biological functions. The objective of this study was to investigate the anti-aging potential of berberine (BBR) in D-galactose (D-Gal) induced aging in rat models. In this study, male Wistar rats were divided into four groups: The control group was given only vehicle, the BBR group was treated with berberine orally, the D-Gal group was treated with D-galactose subcutaneously and the BBR + D-Gal group was treated with D-galactose and berberine simultaneously. D-galactose exposure elevated the pro-oxidants such as malondialdehyde (MDA) level, protein carbonyl and advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) in the brain. It decreased the anti-oxidants such as reduced glutathione (GSH) and ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) in the brain. D-galactose treatment also reduced the mitochondrial complexes (I, II, III and IV) activities and elevated the inflammatory markers such as interleukine-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor- α (TNF-α) and C-reactive protein (CRP). The mRNA expressions of IL-6 and TNF-α in the brain were upregulated following D-galactose exposure. Berberine co-treatment in D-galactose induced aging rat model prevented the alteration of pro-oxidant and anti-oxidant in the brain. Berberine treatment restored the mitochondrial complex activities in the brain and also normalized the inflammatory markers. Based on these findings we conclude that berberine treatment has the potential to mitigate brain aging in rats via stabilizing the redox equilibrium and neuroinflammation.

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Acknowledgements

Dr. Arun Kumar Yadawa is grateful to University Grant Commission, India for providing Dr. DS Kothari Postdoctoral Fellowship. Authors also acknowledge the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India for providing support under the “Research Resources, Service Facilities, and Platforms” program.

Funding

This experimental work was financially supported by University Grant Commission, India in the form of Dr. DS Kothari fellowship (No.F.4 − 2/2006 (BSR)/BL/19–20/0240; dated 23.06.2020) to Dr. Arun Kumar Yadawa.

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  1. Department of Biochemistry, University of Allahabad, 211002, Allahabad, India

    Arun Kumar Yadawa, Parisha Srivastava, Akanksha Singh, Raushan Kumar, Jitendra Kumar Arya & Syed Ibrahim Rizvi

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  1. Arun Kumar Yadawa
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  2. Parisha Srivastava
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SIR designed the experiments, interpreted the results and critically reviewed the manuscript. AKY designed and performed the experiments, analysed the data, interpreted the results and wrote the manuscript. AS, PS, RK and JKA performed the experiments.

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Correspondence to Syed Ibrahim Rizvi.

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All animal care and experimental procedures were carried out with the approval of the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) and the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC/AU/2019(1)/08), University of Allahabad, India.

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Yadawa, A.K., Srivastava, P., Singh, A. et al. Berberine attenuates brain aging via stabilizing redox homeostasis and inflammation in an accelerated senescence model of Wistar rats. Metab Brain Dis 39, 649–659 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-024-01350-7

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