The Antioxidative Action of ZTP by Increasing Nrf2/ARE Signal Pathway

Abstract

So far, more than 25,000 brain diseases have been shown to be related to oxidative stress. Excessive free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) can attack cells resulting in dysfunctional proteins, lipids, and nucleic acid, finally leading to imbalance of energy metabolism, cell death, gene mutation, and immune reaction. Therefore oxidative stress plays an important role in neuronal diseases. As a traditional Chinese medicine, Zhengtian Pill (ZTP) was reported to have the ability to reduce the blood viscosity of migraine model rats, with increased beta-endorphin, serotonin, adrenaline, and dopamine in brain tissue. Moreover ZTP can effectively accelerate blood circulation and attenuate blood coagulation. However, the molecular mechanisms of ZPT are still unclear. Through the behavioral test we found that ZTP can significantly improve depression-like behavior induced by LPS when rat was treated with ZTP (L 0.17 g/kg, M 0.34 g/kg, and H 0.7 g/kg) intraperitoneal injection once a day for 30 consecutive days. And ZTP can resist oxidative stress (>72 h) for a longer time. And ZTP can promote the levels of ATP and SOD and reduce the levels of ROS and MDA in the brain. At the same time, ZTP can have antioxidant stress through increasing the expression level of Nrf2/HO-1/P38. These results show that ZTP may be a potential antioxidant stress drug for variety of diseases associated with oxidative stress injury.