Autophagy activation can increase hippocampal neuron damage in rats with vascular dementia

  Immunohistochemical staining showed that after the autophagy inhibitor wortmannin interfered with vascular dementia model rats, the expression of autophagy-related protein Beclin-1 in hippocampal CA1 area decreased.

  Autophagy is a highly regulated method of degradation of intracellular components. On the one hand, it can remove damaged organelles such as mitochondria, which play an important role in maintaining the stability of nerve cells; on the other hand, excessive activation can cause nerve cell death, which is autophagic cell death. However, the effect of autophagy on nerve cells in patients with vascular dementia has not been clear.

  A protocol from the team of Professor Liu Bin from the Affiliated Hospital of Hebei Union University in China was to inject the autophagy inhibitor wortmannin into the intraperitoneal cavity of vascular dementia model rats, and found that wortmannin can inhibit cell damage in hippocampal CA1 area of vascular dementia model rats , Can increase the expression of autophagy-related protein Beclin-1, cathepsin B and microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 in hippocampal CA1 region.

  confirmed that autophagy activity in the hippocampus of rats with vascular dementia is activated and participates in the pathogenesis of vascular dementia. Inhibiting autophagy activity can reduce the damage of hippocampal neurons caused by vascular dementia and has a neuroprotective effect. This result provides a new target for drug therapy for the repair of damaged neurons in the hippocampus of vascular dementia.