Sodium rutin ameliorates Alzheimer’s disease–like pathology by enhancing microglial amyloid-β clearance

The accumulation of aggregated amyloid-β (Aβ) in the brain is the first critical step in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which also includes synaptic impairment, neuroinflammation, neuronal loss, and eventual cognitive defects. Emerging evidence suggests that impairment of Aβ phagocytosis and clearance is a common phenotype in late-onset AD. Rutin (quercetin-3-rutinoside) has long been investigated as a natural flavonoid with different biological functions in some pathological circumstances. Sodium rutin (NaR), could promote Aβ clearance by increasing microglial by increasing the expression levels of phagocytosis-related receptors in microglia. Moreover, NaR promotes a metabolic switch from anaerobic glycolysis to mitochondrial OXPHOS (oxidative phosphorylation), which could provide microglia with sufficient energy (ATP) for Aβ clearance. Thus, NaR administration could attenuate neuroinflammation and enhance mitochondrial OXPHOS and microglia-mediated Aβ clearance, ameliorating synaptic plasticity impairment and eventually reversing spatial learning and memory deficits. Our findings suggest that NaR is a potential therapeutic agent for AD.