Cited by 54Alzheimer's disease research and treatmentsCholinesterase and Neurodegenerative DiseasesMedicinal Plants and Neuroprotection

Phycocyanin alleviates ICV-STZ induced cognitive and molecular deficits via PI3-Kinase dependent pathway

Agrawal, Madhunika, Perumal, Yamini, Bansal, Seema, Arora, Shiyana, Chopra, Kanwaljit·2020·Food and Chemical Toxicology

Abstract

In this study, the effect of Phycocyanin (Pc) to ameliorate the cognitive dysfunction in experimental model of Alzheimer's disease (AD) was evaluated. Intracerebroventricular (ICV) induction of Streptozotocin (STZ) (3 mg/kg) was done bilaterally twice in rats on alternative days. Rats were injected with Pc (50, 100 mg/kg; i. p.) for 28 days daily for behavioural and cholinergic activity assessment. As the effect was only significant at 100 mg/kg, later molecular experiments were performed using the same only. STZ induction led to increased activity of hippocampal cholinesterases and BAX and decreased activity of BCL-2 and ChAT. It enhanced TNF-α, and NF-κB in rat's brain and reduced BDNF and IGF-1 levels. Dysfunctional insulin signaling and decreased gene expressions of PI3-K, AKT was also observed. However, Pc treatment significantly prevented STZ-induced increased activity of hippocampal cholinesterases and BAX as well as increased the levels of BCL-2 and ChAT. Neuroinflammation was significantly attenuated and BDNF and IGF-1 levels were upregulated. Further, Pc also alleviated dysfunctional insulin signaling as evidenced by increased gene expression of IRS-1, PI3-K, AKT. In conclusion, our study demonstrated the immense potential of Pc in attenuating STZ-induced cognitive decline and it may be further explored as a therapeutic agent in managing AD.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.fct.2020.111684

Cites

50 of 50 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Phycocyanin has immense potential in attenuating streptozotocin-induced cognitive decline in rats.

    “Ref. [97] studied the role of phycocyanin in improving cognitive dysfunction in rats subjected to intracerebroventricular induction of streptozotocin (STZ) and demonstrated the immense potential of phycocyanin in attenuating STZ-induced cognitive decline.”
  • Phycocyanin increases INS-IR binding affinity, IRS-1 activation of PI3K and AKT, resulting in initiation of the IRS/PI3K/AKT pathway, and slightly reduces expression of the PTEN gene.

    “Phycocyanin has been shown to increase INS-IR binding affinity, IRS-1 activation of PI3K and AKT, resulting in initiation of the IRS/PI3K/AKT pathway, and slightly reduced expression of the phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) gene, an inhibitor of the PI3K/AKT pathway [94].”

    From Beneficial Effects of Spirulina Consumption on Brain Health (2022) · cites this paper as [94]

  • In rats with intracerebroventricular streptozotocin-induced Alzheimer's disease model, phycocyanin treatment significantly attenuated neuroinflammation and enhanced BDNF and IGF-1 levels that increased regulation of IRS-1.

    “In this experimental model of AD, phycocyanin treatment significantly attenuated neuroinflammation and enhanced BDNF as well as insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) levels that increased regulation of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1).”

    From Beneficial Effects of Spirulina Consumption on Brain Health (2022) · cites this paper as [94]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 51 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Agrawal, M., Perumal, Y., Bansal, S., Arora, S., & Chopra, K.
Affiliations
  • Panjab University (IN)
  • Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (IN)
Corresponding author
Chopra, Kanwaljit
Venue
Food and Chemical Toxicology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-11
Volume
145
Pages
111684
ISSN
0278-6915 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3049339909
Cited by
54
References
51
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 7
FWCI
3.46
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Food and Chemical Toxicology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Cholinesterase and Neurodegenerative Diseases
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Medicinal Plants and Neuroprotection
Keywords
phycocyanin, Alzheimer's disease, insulin resistance, PI3K/Akt signaling, neuroinflammation, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, insulin-like growth factor I, TNF-α, NF-κB, cholinesterase, neuroprotection
MeSH terms
Alzheimer Disease, Animals, Brain, Choline O-Acetyltransferase, Cognition, Disease Models, Animal, Hippocampus, Humans, Male, Phycocyanin, Streptozocin, Signal Transduction, Rats, Wistar, Neuroprotective Agents, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases, Rats, Insulin Receptor Substrate Proteins, Infusions, Intraventricular

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review