A Herbal Mixture of Sesami Semen Nigrum and Longan Arillus Induces Neurite Outgrowth in Cultured Neurons and Shows Anti-Depression in Chronic Mild Stress-Induced Rats

Figure 4

Combined extracts of Sesami Semen Nigrum and Longan Arillus promote neurogenesis and synaptogenesis. Cultured rat cortical neurons were plated into 12-well plates at a density of 1.5 × 105 cells/mL. The herbal extracts of Sesami Semen Nigrum (SSN) and Longan Arillus (LA) in a 1 : 1 ratio, i.e., 10 μg/mL SSN + LA referring to 5 μg/mL each, were employed. The combined herbal extracts were added to the cultures in DIV3 for another 3 days of treatment. Immunostainings of synapsin-1 and MAP2 were performed after 4% paraformaldehyde fixation. Images were taken by fluorescent microscopy (upper panel), and the quantification of axonal length and synapsin-1 puncta (low panel) were plotted. Values are expressed as percentage of increase against the untreated control, in mean ± SEM, n = 4. () .