Yu Wang, Ke-Yu Hu, Qing-Yang Zhang, Ying-Jie Song, Ling-Jie Li, Fei Wang, Gang Tian, Fan Fei, Ceng-Lin Xu, Jia-Jia Fang, Xu-Hong Jiang, Jian-Nong Wu, Wen-Lu Li, Yi Wang, Zhong Chen
{"title":"石杉碱A通过增强dca1投射的室间隔胆碱能传递来减轻癫痫发作。","authors":"Yu Wang, Ke-Yu Hu, Qing-Yang Zhang, Ying-Jie Song, Ling-Jie Li, Fei Wang, Gang Tian, Fan Fei, Ceng-Lin Xu, Jia-Jia Fang, Xu-Hong Jiang, Jian-Nong Wu, Wen-Lu Li, Yi Wang, Zhong Chen","doi":"10.1038/s41401-025-01522-w","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cholinergic transmission, independent of classical glutamatergic and GABAergic signaling, critically plays a crucial role in epilepsy. Huperzine A (Hup A), an acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor, exerts potent anticonvulsant activity, but its mechanism of action within cholinergic circuits remains unclear. Here, we show that Hup A mitigates epileptic seizures by enhancing hippocampal dorsal CA1 (dCA1)-projecting cholinergic transmission. We found that systemic injection of Hup A not only reduces seizures in acute models, including the maximal-electroshock seizure (MES), pentylenetetrazol (PTZ), and kainic acid (KA) models but also alleviates the seizure severity in chronic epilepsy models induced by kindling and KA, indicating a broad-spectrum anti-seizure efficacy. Interestingly, using immunohistochemistry, viral tracing, and in vivo fiber photometry, we found that Hup A selectively inhibits AChE in the dCA1 rather than in other hippocampal subregions or cortex, enhancing dCA1-projecting septal cholinergic transmission. Significantly, selective ablation of septal ChAT<sup>+</sup> neurons reversed the anti-seizure effects of Hup A. We further identified that α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the dCA1 region mediate the anti-seizures cholinergic circuit modulated by Hup A. Together, our results demonstrate that Hup A exerts broad-spectrum anti-seizure efficacy via modulating dCA1-projecting septal cholinergic transmission, providing potential therapeutic avenues for epilepsy through targeted cholinergic modulation.</p>","PeriodicalId":6942,"journal":{"name":"Acta Pharmacologica Sinica","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Huperzine A attenuates epileptic seizures via enhancing dCA1-projecting septal cholinergic transmission.\",\"authors\":\"Yu Wang, Ke-Yu Hu, Qing-Yang Zhang, Ying-Jie Song, Ling-Jie Li, Fei Wang, Gang Tian, Fan Fei, Ceng-Lin Xu, Jia-Jia Fang, Xu-Hong Jiang, Jian-Nong Wu, Wen-Lu Li, Yi Wang, Zhong Chen\",\"doi\":\"10.1038/s41401-025-01522-w\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<p><p>Cholinergic transmission, independent of classical glutamatergic and GABAergic signaling, critically plays a crucial role in epilepsy. Huperzine A (Hup A), an acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor, exerts potent anticonvulsant activity, but its mechanism of action within cholinergic circuits remains unclear. Here, we show that Hup A mitigates epileptic seizures by enhancing hippocampal dorsal CA1 (dCA1)-projecting cholinergic transmission. We found that systemic injection of Hup A not only reduces seizures in acute models, including the maximal-electroshock seizure (MES), pentylenetetrazol (PTZ), and kainic acid (KA) models but also alleviates the seizure severity in chronic epilepsy models induced by kindling and KA, indicating a broad-spectrum anti-seizure efficacy. Interestingly, using immunohistochemistry, viral tracing, and in vivo fiber photometry, we found that Hup A selectively inhibits AChE in the dCA1 rather than in other hippocampal subregions or cortex, enhancing dCA1-projecting septal cholinergic transmission. Significantly, selective ablation of septal ChAT<sup>+</sup> neurons reversed the anti-seizure effects of Hup A. We further identified that α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the dCA1 region mediate the anti-seizures cholinergic circuit modulated by Hup A. Together, our results demonstrate that Hup A exerts broad-spectrum anti-seizure efficacy via modulating dCA1-projecting septal cholinergic transmission, providing potential therapeutic avenues for epilepsy through targeted cholinergic modulation.</p>\",\"PeriodicalId\":6942,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Acta Pharmacologica Sinica\",\"volume\":\" \",\"pages\":\"\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":6.9000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-03-26\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Acta Pharmacologica Sinica\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"3\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41401-025-01522-w\",\"RegionNum\":1,\"RegionCategory\":\"医学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Acta Pharmacologica Sinica","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41401-025-01522-w","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
Huperzine A attenuates epileptic seizures via enhancing dCA1-projecting septal cholinergic transmission.
Cholinergic transmission, independent of classical glutamatergic and GABAergic signaling, critically plays a crucial role in epilepsy. Huperzine A (Hup A), an acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor, exerts potent anticonvulsant activity, but its mechanism of action within cholinergic circuits remains unclear. Here, we show that Hup A mitigates epileptic seizures by enhancing hippocampal dorsal CA1 (dCA1)-projecting cholinergic transmission. We found that systemic injection of Hup A not only reduces seizures in acute models, including the maximal-electroshock seizure (MES), pentylenetetrazol (PTZ), and kainic acid (KA) models but also alleviates the seizure severity in chronic epilepsy models induced by kindling and KA, indicating a broad-spectrum anti-seizure efficacy. Interestingly, using immunohistochemistry, viral tracing, and in vivo fiber photometry, we found that Hup A selectively inhibits AChE in the dCA1 rather than in other hippocampal subregions or cortex, enhancing dCA1-projecting septal cholinergic transmission. Significantly, selective ablation of septal ChAT+ neurons reversed the anti-seizure effects of Hup A. We further identified that α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the dCA1 region mediate the anti-seizures cholinergic circuit modulated by Hup A. Together, our results demonstrate that Hup A exerts broad-spectrum anti-seizure efficacy via modulating dCA1-projecting septal cholinergic transmission, providing potential therapeutic avenues for epilepsy through targeted cholinergic modulation.
期刊介绍:
APS (Acta Pharmacologica Sinica) welcomes submissions from diverse areas of pharmacology and the life sciences. While we encourage contributions across a broad spectrum, topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to: anticancer pharmacology, cardiovascular and pulmonary pharmacology, clinical pharmacology, drug discovery, gastrointestinal and hepatic pharmacology, genitourinary, renal, and endocrine pharmacology, immunopharmacology and inflammation, molecular and cellular pharmacology, neuropharmacology, pharmaceutics, and pharmacokinetics. Join us in sharing your research and insights in pharmacology and the life sciences.