Salvianolic acid A, a polyphenolic derivative from Salvia miltiorrhiza bunge, as a multifunctional agent for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

ABSTRACT

The effects of Salvianolic acid A (Sal A) on the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) were investigated. Sal A significantly inhibits amyloid beta [Formula see text] self-aggregation and disaggregates pre-formed [Formula see text] fibrils, reduces metal-induced [Formula see text] aggregation through chelating metal ions, and blocks the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in SH-SY5Y cells. Sal A protects cells against [Formula see text]-induced toxicity. Furthermore, Sal A, possibly because of the effects of decreasing toxicity effects of [Formula see text] species, alleviates [Formula see text]-induced paralysis in transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans. Circular dichroism (CD) experiments and Molecular dynamic (MD) simulations demonstrate that Sal A inhibits [Formula see text] self-aggregation through binding to the C-terminus of [Formula see text], and therefore stabilizing the [Formula see text]-helical conformations. Altogether, our data show that Sal A, as the multifunctional agent, is likely to be promising therapeutics for AD.