Quantitative Proteomics Characterization of the Effect and Mechanism of Trichostatin A on the Hippocampus of Type II Diabetic Mice

Diabetic encephalopathy (DE) is one of the complications of diabetes mellitus with mild-to-moderate cognitive impairment. Trichostatin A (TSA) has been revealed to show protective effect on central nervous systems in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and hypoxic–ischemic brain injury. However, the effect and molecular mechanism of TSA on cognitive function of DE are unknown. Here, we demonstrated that cognitive function was damaged in diabetic mice versus normal mice and treatment with TSA improved cognitive function in diabetic mice. Proteomic analysis of the hippocampus revealed 174 differentially expressed proteins in diabetic mice compared with normal mice. TSA treatment reversed the expression levels of 111 differentially expressed proteins grouped into functional clusters, including the longevity regulating pathway, the insulin signaling pathway, peroxisomes, protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum, and ribosomes. Furthermore, protein–protein interaction network analysis of TSA-reversed proteins revealed that UBA52, CAT, RPL29, RPL35A, CANX, RPL37, and PRKAA2 were the main hub proteins. Multiple KEGG pathway-enriched CAT and PRKAA2 levels were significantly decreased in the hippocampus of diabetic mice versus normal mice, which was reversed by TSA administration. Finally, screening for potential similar or ancillary drugs for TSA treatment indicated that HDAC inhibitors ISOX, apicidin, and panobinostat were the most promising similar drugs, and the PI3K inhibitor GSK-1059615, the Aurora kinase inhibitor alisertib, and the nucleophosmin inhibitor avrainvillamide-analog-6 were the most promising ancillary drugs. In conclusion, our study revealed that CAT and PRKAA2 were the key proteins involved in the improvement of DE after TSA treatment. ISOX, apicidin, and panobinostat were promising similar drugs and that GSK-1059615, alisertib, and avrainvillamide-analog-6 were promising ancillary drugs to TSA in the treatment of DE.