Study on protection against β-amyloid peptide toxicity with oral administration of medicinal herbs

摘要

Seonghyangjeongkisan has been used as a therapeutic agent for cerebral disease in Korea, but its effectiveness in Alzheimer's disease is not well known. In this study, we examined whether Seonghyangjeongkisan could protect against amyloid β-induced cytotoxicity in neuroblastoma cells and the brain. Seonghyangjeongkisan rescued amyloid β-induced cytotoxicity dose dependently and reduced amyloid β-induced apoptosis and reactive oxygen species. Injection of mice with amyloid β impaired performance on the passive avoidance task, but Seonghyangjeongkisan markedly improved memory impairment in mice, with it being more effective than tacrine treatment in mice. Moreover, the activation of stress-related kinases such as extracellular signal-regulated kinase, c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase, and p38 was suppressed, and the phosphorylation of τ protein, which is known as a marker of Alzheimer's disease, was also suppressed by Seonghyangjeongkisan treatment in the hippocampus. These results demonstrate that Seonghyangjeongkisan reduces amyloid β-induced toxicity in the brain, suggesting that it may be a useful complementary therapy against Alzheimer's disease.