TABLE 1.

The effect and mechanisms of saponins from Astragali radix against Alzheimer’s disease.

Saponins	Method	Inducer	Experimental model	Mechanisms	Effects	References
AS-IV	In vivo	/	APP/PS1 transgenic mice	PPARγ↑	Inhibit Aβ generation and deposition	Wang et al. (2017)
				BACE1↓
AS-IV	In vivo	AβO	C57BL/6 mice	PPARγ, BDNF, PSD95, SYN, GAP43↑	Inhibit Tau hyperphosphorylation, alleviate synaptic deficits, neuroinflammation, pyroptosis	Wang et al. (2021a)
				NeuN+ area↑
				GFAP, IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, NLRP3, cleaved caspase-1↓
AS-IV	In vivo	AβO	ICR mice	ROS, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, NADPH oxidase subunits (gp91phox, p47phox, p22phox, p67phox), Iba-1+ area↓	Alleviate cognitive impairment, attenuate neuroinflammation, neuronal damage	Chen et al. (2021)
AS-IV	In vivo	Aβ	Sprague-Dawley rats	immature neurons (BrdU+/Tuj1+), Notch-1↑	Promote proliferation and differentiation of NSCs	Hu et al. (2016)
				PS-1↓
AS-IV	In vitro	AβO	HT22 cells	PPARγ, BDNF, cell viability↑	Inhibit apoptosis and cell injury	Wang et al. (2020)
				lactate dehydrogenase release, cleaved caspase-3↓
AS-IV	In vivo	AβO	C57BL/6 mice	Population of healthy cells, PPARγ, BDNF, p-TrkB↑ apoptotic cells, cleaved caspase-3↓	Inhibit neuronal loss, apoptosis	Wang et al. (2020)
AS-IV	In vitro	Aβ25–35	PC12 cells	SOD↑MDA, ROS, p-p38 MAPK ratio, caspase-3, BIP/GRP78, GADD153/CHOP↓	Attenuate oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum stress	Ma and Xiong, (2019)
AST	In vivo	AβO	Wistar rats	p-TrkB, p-Akt, p-GSK3β, β-catenin↑	Prevent neuronal degeneration, apoptosis, inhibit Aβ accumulation, alleviate altered microglia polarization and	Wang et al. (2022)
AST	In vitro	AβO	Primary cortical neuron	BDNF, TrkB, cathepsin D↑	morphology changes prevent cytotoxicity, apoptosis, attenuate mitochondria distress, synaptotoxicity	Wang et al. (2022)
AST	In vivo	/	5xFAD mice	Aβ↓	Inhibit Aβ aggregation	Zhou P et al. (2016)
AST	In vivo	Aβ25–35	Sprague-Dawley rats	Population of healthy neurons↑ p-Tau↓	Alleviate memory impairments, neuronal degeneration, inhibit cortical Tau hyperphosphorylation	Chang et al. (2016)
AST	In vitro	Aβ25–35	Primary cortical neuron	Synaptophysin, Cell viability↑	Prevent cytotoxicity, apoptosis, synaptotoxicity, and mitochondrial dysfunction	Chang et al. (2016)
				DNA fragmentation, caspase-3, pTau↓
Cycloastragenol	In vivo	AβO	C57BL/6N mice	Nrf2, HO-1, BDNF, p-TrkB, p-CREB, NeuN, p-ERK, Bcl-2↑	Ameliorate oxidative stress, neurotrophic processes, neuroinflammation, apoptosis	Ikram et al. (2021)
				ROS, LPO, p-JNK, p-p38, Iba-1, GFAP, TNF-α, IL-1β, Bax, Casp-3, Bim, Caspase-3↓