Arctigenin Isolated from the Seeds of Arctium lappa Ameliorates Memory Deficits in Mice

Abstract

The seeds of Arctium lappa L. (AL, family Asteraceae), the main constituents of which are arctiin and arctigenin, have been used as an herbal medicine or functional food to treat inflammatory diseases. These main constituents were shown to inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity. Arctigenin more potently inhibited AChE activity than arctiin. Arctigenin at doses of 30 and 60 mg/kg (p. o.) potently reversed scopolamine-induced memory deficits by 62 % and 73 %, respectively, in a passive avoidance test. This finding is comparable with that of tacrine (10 mg/kg p. o.). Arctigenin also significantly reversed scopolamine-induced memory deficits in the Y-maze and Morris water maze tests. On the basis of these findings, arctigenin may ameliorate memory deficits by inhibiting AChE.

Key words

Arctium lappa - Asteraceae - arctiin - arctigenin - memory

References

• 1 Eikelenboom P, Zhan S S, van Gool W A, Allsop D. Inflammatory mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease.  Trends Pharmacol Sci. 1994;  15 447-450
• 2 Whitehouse P J, Price D L, Clark A W, Coyle J T, DeLong M R. Alzheimer disease: Evidence for selective loss of cholinergic neurons in the nucleus basalis.  Ann Neurol. 1981;  10 122-126
• 3 Araujo J A, Studzinski C M, Milgram N W. Further evidence for the cholinergic hypothesis of aging and dementia from the canine model of aging.  Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2005;  29 411-422
• 4 Tariot P N, Patel S V, Cox C, Henderson R E. Age-related decline in central cholinergic function demonstrated with scopolamine.  Psychopharmacology. 1996;  125 50-56
• 5 Doody R S. Clinical profile of donepezil in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.  Gerontology. 1999;  45 (Suppl 1) 23-32
• 6 Campbell M D, Jaques Jr S, Gala R R. The lack of an effect of cholinergic agonists on anterior pituitary prolactin production in vitro.  Experientia. 1978;  34 1522-1523
• 7 Holetz F B, Pessini G L, Sanches N R, Cortez D A, Nakamura C V, Filho B P. Screening of some plants used in the Brazilian folk medicine for the treatment of infectious diseases.  Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2002;  97 1027-1031
• 8 Lin C C, Lu J M, Yang J J, Chuang S C, Ujiie T. Anti-inflammatory and radical scavenge effects of Arctium lappa.  Am J Chin Med. 1996;  24 127-137
• 9 Huang T C, Tsai S S, Liu L F, Liu Y L, Liu H J, Chuang K P. Effect of Arctium lappa L. in the dextran sulfate sodium colitis mouse model.  World J Gastroenterol. 2010;  16 4193-4199
• 10 Lee B, Jung K, Kim D H. Timosaponin AIII, a saponin isolated from Anemarrhena asphodeloides, ameliorates learning and memory deficits in mice.  Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2009;  93 121-127
• 11 Yang J H, Han S J, Ryu J H, Jang I S, Kim D H. Ginsenoside Rh2 ameliorates scopolamine-induced learning deficit in mice.  Biol Pharm Bull. 2009;  32 1710-1715
• 12 Hu Y, Xia Z, Sun Q, Orsi A, Rees D. A new approach to the pharmacological regulation of memory: Sarsasapogenin improves memory by elevating the low muscarinic acetylcholine receptor density in brains of memory-deficit rat models.  Brain Res. 2005;  1060 26-39
• 13 Xie L H, Ahn E M, Akao T, Abdel-Hafez A A, Nakamura N, Hattori M. Transformation of arctiin to estrogenic and antiestrogenic substances by human intestinal bacteria.  Chem Pharm Bull. 2003;  51 378-384
• 14 Nose M, Fujimoto T, Takeda T, Nishibe S, Ogihara Y. Structural transformation of lignan compounds in rat gastrointestinal tract.  Planta Med. 1992;  58 520-523