Raphanus sativus var. hortensis f. raphanistroides Makino (Korean wild radish [WR]) are root vegetables belonging to the Brassicaceae family. These radish species mostly grow in sea areas in Asia, where they have been traditionally used as a medicinal food to treat various diseases. To investigate the effect of WR on neuronal cell death in SH-SY5Y cells, betaamyloid was used to develop the cell death model. WR attenuated neuronal cell death in SH-SY5Y and regulated the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling. WR extract also inhibited acetylcholinesterase inhibitor activity. Additionally, the WR treatment group ameliorated the behavior of the memory-impaired mice in a scopolamine-induced mouse model. In the behavior test, WR treated mice showed shorter escape latency and swimming distance and improved the platform-crossing number and the swimming time within the target quadrant. Furthermore, WR prevented histological loss of neurons in hippocampal CA1 regions induced by scopolamine. This study shows that WR can prevent memory impairment which may be a crucial way for the prevention and treatment of memory dysfunction and neuronal cell death.

Cognitive impairment is considered to be key research topics in the field of neurodegenerative diseases and in understanding of learning and memory. In the present study, we investigated neuroprotective effects of Schisandra chinensis (SC) and Ribes fasciculatum (RF) extracts in hydrogen peroxide-induced neuronal cell death in vitro and scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment in Sprague Dawley® (SD) rat in vivo. Apoptotic cell death in neuroblastic PC12 cell line was induced by hydrogen peroxide for 1 hour at 100 μM. However, mixture of SC and RF treatment prevented peroxide induced PC12 cell death with no neurotoxic effects. For in vivo experiment, the effect of SC and RF extracts on scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment in SD rat was evaluated by spontaneous alternation behavior in Y-Maze test. After 30 min scopolamine injection, the scopolamine-induced rats presented significantly decreased % spontaneous alteration and acetylcholine level, compared to non-induced group. However, treatment of SC+RF extracts rescued the reduced % spontaneous alteration with acetylcholine concentration from hippocampus in scopolamineinduced rats. These results suggested that mixture of SC and RF extract may be a potential natural therapeutic agent for the prevention of cognitive impairment.

HX106N은 용안육, 맥문동, 단삼 및 천마 등의 4가지 식물로 구성된 추출물로서, 선행 연구에서 amyloid β peptide에 의한 생쥐의 기억력 저하 및 산화 손상을 억제하는 것으로 밝혀졌다. 이 연구에서는 HX106N이 비선택적 무스카린 수용체 길항제로 잘 알려진 스코폴라민(scopolamine)으로 유도한 콜린성 건망증(cholinergic amnesia)에 어떤 영향을 미치는지를 평가하였다. ICR 생쥐에게 스코폴라민(1 mg/kg body weight, i.p.)을 주입하기 1시간 전에 HX106N(100 mg/kg body weight, p.o.)을 투여하였다. 30분 후 수행한 Y-미로 시험(Y-maze test) 및 수동 회피 시험(passive avoidance test)에서 HX106N는 스코폴라민에 의해 감소되는 자발적 변경 행동(spontaneous alternation) 및 지체시간(step-through latency)을 유의미하게 억제하여 건망증을 개선시키는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 HX106N을 투약 1시간 후 생쥐의 해마와 대뇌피질 부위의 아세틸콜린에스테라제(acetylcholinesterase; AChE)의 활성을 측정한 결과 통계적으로 유의미한 정도의 활성 감소가 관찰되었다. 이러한 결과들을 종합할 때 HX106N은 AD에서 관찰되는 콜린성신경전달 장애로 인한 기억력 저하 억제에 사용될 수 있는 가능성을 가진 것으로 판단된다.

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.