Actinidia arguta (Actinidiaceae), which is commonly referred to as hardy kiwifruit, has been reported to possess anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic and antioxidative properties. The protective effect of the leaves and stems of A. arguta against amyloid β protein (Aβ) (25-35)-induced cultured neuronal cell death and memory impairment was investigated in the current study. Exposure of cultured cortical neurons to 10 μM Aβ (25-35) for 24 h induced significant neuronal death as assessed by a 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol- 2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and Hoechst 33342 staining. However, A. arguta (10 and 50 μg/ ml) prevented Aβ (25-35)-induced apoptotic neuronal death in cultured cortical neurons. A. arguta also inhibited the 100 μM H2O2-induced decrease of the MTT reduction rate in cultured neurons. Memory impairment was produced by intracerebroventricular microinjection of 15 nmol Aβ (25- 35) and examined using the passive avoidance test in ICR mice. Chronic treatments with A. arguta (50 and 100 mg/ kg, 14 days, p.o.) significantly prevented memory impairment induced by Aβ (25-35), and A. arguta inhibited the Aβ (25-35)-induced increase of cholinesterase activity in the brains of memory impaired mice. These results suggest that A. arguta might be able to inhibit Aβ (25-35)-induced neuronal death and memory impairment via antioxidative and anti-cholinesterase effects and that A. arguta could have a therapeutic role for preventing the progression of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease.

Introduction
 Materials and Methods
  Plant materials extraction and reagents
  Experimental animals
  Induction of neurotoxicity and analysis of neuronalviability in primary cultures of rat cerebral corticalneurons
  Measurement of memory impairment in mice
  Measurement of brain cholinesterase activity
  Statistical analysis
 Results
  A. arguta inhibited Aβ (25-35)-induced neuronalcell death
  A. arguta inhibited H2O2-induced neuronal celldeath
  A. arguta inhibited Aβ (25-35)-induced memorydeficits in mice
 Discussion
 References

• Seong Gweon Kang(College of Veterinary Medicine, Chungbuk National University)
• Yeon Hee Seong(College of Veterinary Medicine, Chungbuk National University)