Korean J Physiol Pharmacol.  2011 Dec;15(6):333-338. 10.4196/kjpp.2011.15.6.333.

The Protective Effect of Black Ginseng Against Transient Focal Ischemia-induced Neuronal Damage in Rats

Affiliations
  • 1Acupuncture and Meridian Science Research Center, College of Oriental Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701, Korea. ishim@khu.ac.kr
  • 2Department of Integrative Medicine and the Research Center of Behavioral Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-701, Korea.

Abstract

Black ginseng (BG) has been widely used as herbal treatment for improving physiological function. In order to investigate the neuroprotective action of this herbal medicine, we examined the influence of BG on the learning and memory of rats using the Morris water maze, and we studied the effects of BG on the central cholinergic system and neural nitric oxide synthesis in the hippocampus of rats with neuronal and cognitive impairment. After middle cerebral artery occlusion was applied for 2h, the rats were administered BG (100 or 400 mgkg(-1), p.o.) daily for 2 weeks, followed by training and performance of the Morris water maze test. The rats with ischemic insults showed impaired learning and memory on the tasks. Treatment with BG produced improvement in the escape latency to find the platform. Further, the BG groups showed a reduced loss of cholinergic immunoreactivity and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase (NADPH-d)-positive neurons in the hippocampus compared to that of the ISC group. These results demonstrated that BG has a protective effect against ischemia-induced neuronal and cognitive impairment. Our results suggest that BG might be useful for the treatment of vascular dementia.

Keyword

Black ginseng (BG); Choline Acetyltransferase (ChAT); Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase (NADPH-d); Morris water maze

MeSH Terms

Animals
Dementia, Vascular
Herbal Medicine
Hippocampus
Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery
Learning
Memory
NAD
Neurons
Nitric Oxide
Panax
Rats
United Nations
NAD
Nitric Oxide

Figure

  • Fig. 1 The latency to escape onto the hidden platform during the Morris water maze. The task was performed with 3 trials per day during 6 days for the acquisition test. The values are presented as means±S.E.M. *p<0.05 vs. the Normal group and #p<0.05, ##p<0.01 vs. the SAL+ISCH group.

  • Fig. 2 (A) The number of cresyl violet stained neurons in the different hippocampal CA1,CA3 and DG areas of the experimental groups. Each value represents the mean±S.E.M. ***p<0.001 vs. the normal group and ##p<0.01 vs. the SAL+ISCH group. (B) Photographs showing the distribution of cresyl violet stained neurons in the hippocampus of the Normal (A), SAL+ISCH (B), BG100+ISCH (C) and BG400+ISCH (D). Sections were cut coronally at 30µm and the scale bar represents 200µm.

  • Fig. 3 (A) The number of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) immunostained nuclei in the different hippocampal CA1 and CA3 areas of the experimental groups. Each value represents the mean±S.E.M. *p<0.05 vs. the normal group and #p<0.05 vs. the SAL+ISCH group. (B) Photographs showing the distribution of ChAT-immunoreactive cells in the hippocampus of the Normal (A), SAL+ISCH (B) and BG100+ISCH (C). Sections were cut coronally at 30µm and the scale bar represents 200µm.

  • Fig. 4 (A) The number of NADPH-d positive neurons in the different hippocampal CA1 and CA3 areas of the experimental groups. Each value represents the mean±S.E.M. *p<0.05, ***p<0.001 vs. the normal group and #p<0.05, ##p<0.01 vs. the SAL+ISCH group. (B) Photographs showing the distribution of NADPH-d positive neurons in the hippocampus of the SHAM (A), SAL+ISCH (B), BG100+ISCH (C). Sections were cut coronally at 30µm and the scale bar represents 200µm.


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