J Biomed Transl Res.  2022 Jun;23(2):43-53. 10.12729/jbtr.2022.23.2.43.

Protective effect of an ethanol extract mixture of Aralia elata, Chaenomeles sinensis fruit, and Glycyrrhizae radix against cerebral ischemiareperfusion injury in rats and excitotoxic and oxidative neuronal damage

• Seong YH

• KMID: 2534085
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.12729/jbtr.2022.23.2.43

Abstract

Aralia elata, Chaenomeles sinensis fruit, and Glycyrrhizae radix have been widely used as oriental medicinal plants in Korea, China and Japan and found to possess anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory activities. The current study was conducted to investigate the neuroprotec-tive effect of an ethanol extract of a mixture of A. elata, C. sinensis fruit, and Glycyrrhizae radix (ACG) against ischemia-induced brain injury in rats and excitotoxic and oxidative neuronal death in primarily cultured rat cortical neurons. Transient focal cerebral ischemia was induced by 2 h middle cerebral artery occlusion followed by 24 h reperfusion (MCAO/R) in rats. Oral administration of ACG (10, 25, and 50 mg/kg) 30 min before MCAO, after 1 h of MCAO, and after 1 h of reperfusion reduced MCAO/R-induced brain infarct and edema formation. ACG also inhibited development of behavioral disabilities in MCAO/R-treated rats. Exposure of cul-tured cortical neurons to 500 μM glutamate for 12 h resulted in neuronal cell death. ACG (1, 10, and 50 μg/mL) inhibited glutamate-induced neuronal death. Furthermore, ACG inhibited 100 μM hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂ )- and hypoxia-induced neuronal death. These results sug-gest that the neuroprotective effect of ACG against ischemia-induced brain damage might be associated with its anti-excitotoxic and anti-oxidative activity and that ACG may have a thera-peutic role for prevention of neurodegeneration in stroke.

Keyword

Aralia elata; Chaenomeles sinensis fruit; Glycyrrhiza radix; neuroprotection; ischemic stroke