Traditional Chinese Medicine for Senile Dementia

Table 4

(a) Memory-improving and neuro-protective effects of Radix polygalae

Test	Test materials/dose	Test model	Endpoint/biomarkers	Effects	Mechanisms	Reference
Clinic	Extracts 300 mg/d, 4 w	Healthy Korean elderly with subjective memory impairment and mild cognitive impairmentdouble-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, parallel study	Korean version of California verbal learning testSelf-ordered pointing test	Improve verbal memory No adverse events, except mild dyspepsia	N.A.	[32, 33]
In vivo	Extracts i.p., 2 mg/kg	Innate rats	Nestin/BrdU Tuj1/BrdU	Improve memory Promote neuro-genesis	Promote proliferation Promote neurite outgrowth	[34]
	Extracts	Stress-treated rats	Glucose utilization Cell adhesion molecule	Improve memory	Increase glucose utilization Increase total NCAM	[35]
	Extracts 2 g/kg, 1–3 w	NBM-lesioning rats	Neurological test Step-through test	Improve memory	N.A.	[36]
	Extracts i.p., 10 mg/kg	Scopolamine-treated rats	Passive avoidance test water maze test AChE	Improve memory	Inhibit AChE	[36]
In vitro	Extracts 0.5–5 μg/mL	Rat primary neurons exposed to Glutamate or Aβ	Cell viability	Protect neurons	N.A.	[37]
	Extracts 0.05–5 μg/mL	Rat cerebellar granule neurons exposed to NMDA	Glutamate release (Ca2+)i/ROS	Protect neurons	N.A.	[38]
	Extracts 0.1–100 μg/mL	Rat cortical neurons exposed to Aβ 25–35	Axonal length Neuro-filament-H/MAP-2Cell viability	Activate axonal extension Protect neurons	N.A.	[39]

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE); bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU); microtubule-associated protein-2 (MAP-2); nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM); neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM); N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA); reactive oxygen species (ROS); β amyloid (Aβ); not available (N.A.); intraperitoneally (ip.).

(b) Memory-improving and neuro-protective effects of active components from Radix polygalae

Test	Test materials/dose	Test model	Endpoints/biomarkers	Effects	Mechanisms	Reference
In vivo	Sinapic acid 10–100 mg/kg	Scopolamine-treated rats	Radial maze test	Improve memory	N.A.	[42, 43]
	Sinapic acid 3–100 mg/kg, 1 h	Scopolamine-treat mice Basal forebrain lesioning mice	Step-through test Ach/ChAT	Improve memory	N.A.	[49]
	Tenuifolin 20–80 mg/kg, 15 d	Aged mice Dysmnesia mice	Step-down test Y maze trial AChE,NE,DA,5-HT	Improve memory	Increase NE and DA Inhibit AChE	[45]
	Tenuigenin 18.5–74 mg/kg	Aβ 1-40-treated rats ibotenic acid-treated rats	Step-through test AchE, ChAT	Improve memory	Cholinergic	[46]
	Acylated oligosaccharides1–10 mg/kg	Scopolamine-treated rats	Step-through test	Improve memory	Cholinergic	[44]
In vitro	Tenuigenin 1–4 μg/mL	APP-transfected SH-SY5Y cells	Fluorescence resonance energy transfer	Inhibit Aβ secretion	Inhibit BACE1	[47]
	Onjisaponin 10 μM	Serum deficiency or glutamate-treated PC12 cells	Cell survival	Protect PC 12 cells	N.A.	[48]

Acetylcholine (Ach); acetylcholinesterase (AChE); choline acetyltransferase (ChAT); 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT); dopamine (DA); norepinephrine (NE); beta-site APP cleaving enzyme (BACE); amyloid precursor protein (APP); β amyloid (Aβ); not available (N.A.).