TY - JOUR
T1 - In vitro screening on amyloid precursor protein modulation of plants used in Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese medicine for memory improvement
AU - Liu, Liang Feng
AU - Durairajan, Siva Sundara Kumar
AU - Lu, Jia Hong
AU - Koo, Irene
AU - Li, Min
N1 - Funding Information:
The study was supported by research grants FRG-I/10-11/28 and FRG-II/10-11/35 from Hong Kong Baptist University and partly from research grant of the Lions Club of South Kowloon , H.K. We especially thank Ms. Loretta Ho and Ms. Wai-Sheung Chan for their further financial support of this study. We thank Prof. Zhongzhen Zhao (School of Chinese medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong) and Dr. S. Ethirajulu (Siddha Central Research Institute, Chennai, India) for their helps in authentication of the selected Chinese herbal medicine and Ayurvedic plants. We also thank Dr. Zhitao Liang, Dr. Guoyuan Zhu for providing required materials for this project and Dr. Martha Dahlen for her comments and English editing on this manuscript.
PY - 2012/6/1
Y1 - 2012/6/1
N2 - Ethnopharmacological relevance: The 15 herbs for the screening have been traditionally used in Ayurvedic medicine or in Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for the treatment of cognitive disorders clinically. Aim of the study: Fifteen plant species were investigated for the inhibition of amyloid peptide (Aβ) production and modulation of amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing. Materials and methods: The selected plants were extracted successively with 70% ethyl alcohol and absolute alcohol concentrated with rotary evaporation then lyophilized. Using a mouse neuroblastoma cells expressing Swedish APP (N2a-SweAPP), MTT assay was performed to determine the toxicity concentration of each herbal extract. In order to evaluate the activity of ethanol extracts on Aβ inhibition, the N2a-SweAPP cells were treated with a high and low dosage of different extracts for 24 h, Aβs levels in the supernatant of conditioned media were assessed by ELISA. The most active extracts were then subjected to test the effect on APP modulation in N2a-SweAPP cells by determining their effect on sAPPα and sAPPβ through western blot analysis. Results: Among the screened herbal extracts, only Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. (root) and Convolvulus pluricaulis Choisy. (leaves) showed profound inhibition of Aβ production. MTT assay demonstrated that the anti-Aβ effect of these extracts was not a sequential consequence of their cytotoxicity. The extract of Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. (root) could reduce Aβ production only through APP modulation, which was exhibited together with the up-regulation of sAPPα and down-regulation of sAPPβ. Conclusion: The results show that extract of Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. (root) can lower Aβ generation by modulating APP processing in the N2a-SwedAPP cell line. These results corroborate the traditional use of Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. (root) for the treatment of cognitive disorders including Alzheimer's disease (AD).
AB - Ethnopharmacological relevance: The 15 herbs for the screening have been traditionally used in Ayurvedic medicine or in Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for the treatment of cognitive disorders clinically. Aim of the study: Fifteen plant species were investigated for the inhibition of amyloid peptide (Aβ) production and modulation of amyloid precursor protein (APP) processing. Materials and methods: The selected plants were extracted successively with 70% ethyl alcohol and absolute alcohol concentrated with rotary evaporation then lyophilized. Using a mouse neuroblastoma cells expressing Swedish APP (N2a-SweAPP), MTT assay was performed to determine the toxicity concentration of each herbal extract. In order to evaluate the activity of ethanol extracts on Aβ inhibition, the N2a-SweAPP cells were treated with a high and low dosage of different extracts for 24 h, Aβs levels in the supernatant of conditioned media were assessed by ELISA. The most active extracts were then subjected to test the effect on APP modulation in N2a-SweAPP cells by determining their effect on sAPPα and sAPPβ through western blot analysis. Results: Among the screened herbal extracts, only Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. (root) and Convolvulus pluricaulis Choisy. (leaves) showed profound inhibition of Aβ production. MTT assay demonstrated that the anti-Aβ effect of these extracts was not a sequential consequence of their cytotoxicity. The extract of Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. (root) could reduce Aβ production only through APP modulation, which was exhibited together with the up-regulation of sAPPα and down-regulation of sAPPβ. Conclusion: The results show that extract of Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. (root) can lower Aβ generation by modulating APP processing in the N2a-SwedAPP cell line. These results corroborate the traditional use of Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. (root) for the treatment of cognitive disorders including Alzheimer's disease (AD).
KW - Aβ
KW - Alzheimer's disease
KW - Amyloid precursor protein
KW - Ayurvedic medicine
KW - Traditional Chinese medicine
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84861194670&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jep.2011.08.065
DO - 10.1016/j.jep.2011.08.065
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 21920424
AN - SCOPUS:84861194670
SN - 0378-8741
VL - 141
SP - 754
EP - 760
JO - Journal of Ethnopharmacology
JF - Journal of Ethnopharmacology
IS - 2
ER -