Gypenoside TN-2 ameliorates scopolamine-induced learning deficit in mice.
Palabras clave
Abstracto
BACKGROUND
Gynostemma pentaphyllum (Thunb.) Makino (GP, family Cucurbitaceae), which contains dammarane saponins as its main constituents, is used in China, Japan, and Korea as a traditional medicine to treat cancer, obesity, arteriosclerosis, asthma and senility.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the memory-enhancing effects of GP, Gypenoside TN-2 (TN-2) was isolated by activity-guided fractionation and administered to scopolamine-induced memory-deficient mice.
METHODS
The memory-enhancing effects of TN-2 were evaluated using passive avoidance, Y-maze, and Morris water maze tests, and the protein expressions of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), cAMP element binding protein (CREB), and p-CREB were determined by immunoblotting.
RESULTS
TN-2 inhibited memory and learning deficits in scopolamine treated mice in the passive avoidance test. TN-2 (10, 20, and 40 mg/kg, p.o.) significantly inhibited memory and learning deficits in the passive avoidance test by 40%, 96% and 78%, respectively, and exhibited significant memory-enhancing effects on the Y-maze test and the Morris water maze test. TN-2 also markedly increased BNDF expression and activated the transcription factor CREB in the hippocampi of scopolamine-treated mice.
CONCLUSIONS
TN-2 may ameliorate memory and learning deficits by activating the CREB-BDNF pathway.
