Background : Scopolamine induces cholinergic dysfunction and oxidative stress, and the impairment of memory function. Therefore, oxidative stress and cholinergic dysfunction are important role of the brain pathology of amnesia. In this study, we investigated the impact of Safflower seed against oxidative stress and cholinergic dysfunction on scopolamine-induced amnesic mice. Methods and Results : Mice were orally pretreated with safflower seed (100 ㎎/㎏ body weight) or vehicle for 7 days, and scopolamine (1 ㎎/㎏ body weight) was injected intraperitoneally, 30 min before the behavior tests such as T-maze and novel objective recognition test on first day. To evaluate learning and memory function, the Morris water maze task was performed for 5 days, consecutively. The results showed that spatial perceptive ability and novel object recognition was significantly increased by preadministration of safflower seed compared with scopolamin-induced control mice in the behavior tests. Consistently, immuno blot revealed the elevated expression of superoxide dismutase 1 in the safflower seed pretreated mice, compared to the control mice. Moreover, protein expression of acetylcholinesterase was decreased in safflower seed pre-treated group. Conclusion : Subsequently, our results suggests that the Safflower seed extract improved memory impairment through inhibition of cholinergic dysfunction and oxidative stress.

Background : Oxidative stress and inflammatory response are important features of the brain pathology of Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to the antioxidant activity and biochemical characterization of safflower seed. Moreover, we investigated the impact of Safflower seed on scopolamine-induced memory impairment in mice. Methods and Results : First, in order to determine active ingredient contents of safflower seed extract, we were carried out total phenol content and total flavonoid content analyses. As a result, dried safflower seed were found to contain 35.4 ± 0.4 ㎎·GAE/g dry weight and 45.3 ± 7.5 ㎎·NE/g dry weight in boiling water extraction. Also, the major compounds of safflower seed from HPLC analysis were identified as serotonin and serotonin derivatives [N- (p-coumaroyl)serotonin and N-feruloylserotonin]. In addition, the antioxidant activity of safflower seed showed IC50 values of 331.4 and 168.2, respectively, against DPPH and ABTS in vitro. Finally, with regard to the memory improvement activity, the administration of Safflower seed extract significantly restored memory impairments induced by scopolamine in the behavior tests such as novel object recognition and Morris water maze test. Conclusion : The results of our study suggest that the safflower seed extract possess potent memory improvement activity and are also a good source of natural antioxidants. Further study is needed to identify the mechanism responsible for their memory improvement activity.