Page 98 - GTM-4-1

Global Translational Medicine

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Comparative evaluation of the therapeutic

effects of Schisandra chinensis and Schisandra
sphenanthera on vascular cognitive impairment

and their drug-like compounds

1
Yucen Zou 1† , Bin Li 1† , Meiqi Wang 1 , Xiaomeng Xie 2 , Jianuo Zhang ,
1
1
Qi Xiao , Chunyan Yang , Jiushi Liu 1 , Haitao Sun 1 , Bengang Zhang ,
1
Pei Ma *, and Haitao Liu *
1
1
1 State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of
Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical
College, Beijing, China
Abstract

The fruits of Schisandra chinensis (SCF) and Schisandra sphenanthera (SSF) are
traditional Chinese herbal medicines classified as medicinal and food homologous
materials, known for their significant neuroprotective efficacy. However, the
† These authors contributed equally
to this work. differences in their therapeutic effects and active components for the treatment of
vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) remain unclear. This study aimed to elucidate the
*Corresponding authors:
Haitao Liu neuroprotective activities of SCF and SSF on VCI and investigate the compositional
(htliu@implad.ac.cn) disparities between the two. The lipopolysaccharide-induced and oxygen-glucose
Pei Ma deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R)-induced BV2 cell models were used to evaluate
(pma@implad.ac.cn)
the protective effects of SCF and SSF against neuroinflammation and mitochondrial
Citation: Zou Y, Li B, Wang M, damage, respectively. The therapeutic effects were further validated using a
et al. Comparative evaluation of the bilateral common carotid artery stenosis mouse model. Compositional differences
therapeutic effects of Schisandra
chinensis and Schisandra were analyzed using ultraperformance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-
sphenanthera on vascular cognitive of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS), and drug-like properties of their
impairment and their drug-like
compounds. Global Transl Med. constituents were assessed. In vitro experiments showed that SCF and SSF at
2025:4(1):90-103. concentrations of 6.4, 16, and 40 μg/mL reduced nitric oxide, tumor necrosis factor-
doi: 10.36922/gtm.6879 alpha, and interleukin-6 levels in a dose-dependent manner. Notably, at the same
Received: December 3, 2024 concentrations, SCF significantly mitigated OGD/R-induced mitochondrial damage,
whereas SSF showed no significant effect. Compared with SSF, SCF exhibited
Accepted: December 19, 2024
stronger anti-neuroinflammatory and antioxidant properties. In vivo experiments
Published online: February 14, further demonstrated that SCF, administered at 400 mg/kg, was more effective in
2025 improving learning ability, spatial learning and memory, cerebral blood flow, and
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s). nerve fiber repair than SSF. Moreover, 71 and 64 compounds were identified in SCF
This is an Open-Access article and SSF, respectively, using UPLC-Q-TOF/MS. Drug-like property analysis of these
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution compounds revealed that the superior therapeutic effects of SCF may be attributed
License, permitting distribution, to differences in biphenylcyclooctene-type lignans. Our data support the conclusion
and reproduction in any medium, that SCF possesses significantly superior neuroprotective activity compared to SSF,
provided the original work is
properly cited. providing a theoretical basis for its clinical application in VCI.
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with Keywords: Schisandra chinensis; Schisandra sphenanthera; Vascular cognitive impairment;
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional Neuroinflammation; Mitochondrial damage; UPLC-Q-TOF/MS
affiliations.

Volume 4 Issue 1 (2025) 90 doi: 10.36922/gtm.6879