• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.119-124
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• 2017

Taraxacum platycarpum H. Dahl. (Compositae) has been used as an anti-inflammatory or anti-cancer agent in the clinic. Although its antidepressant effect has been reported, however, its cognitive function is not investigated until yet. In the present study, we investigated whether the water extract of T. platycarpum (WETP) could improve cognitive function in cholinergic blockade-induced amnesia mouse model using the passive avoidance or Y-maze task. WETP (12.5, 25 or 50 mg/kg) significantly ameliorated the scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment both in the passive avoidance test and the Y-maze test. In addition, WETP significantly inhibited acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity measured by an ex vivo study using the mouse whole brain. These results suggest that WETP alleviates the cognitive dysfunction caused by the cholinergic blockade, in part, via AChE inhibition, and that it may be a useful for treating cognitive dysfunction.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.382-391
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• 2016

The purpose of this experiment was designed to investigate the effects of medicinal herbs (MH) extracts on dementia induced by trimethyltin chloride (TMT) in rats. Six-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups; normal group (group 1), control group (group 2), MH extracts group (250, 500 mg/kg) (group 3, group 4) and positive control group (tacrine group, group 5). In the control group to induce dementia, a 2.5 mg/kg of TMT intraperitoneal injection was used for 14 days (1 per day) in the rats. In the MH extracts group 250 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg of MH extracts were medicated in an oral inoculation for 20 days (1 per day). After 30 minutes, a 2.5 mg/kg of TMT intraperitoneal injection, which causes dementia, was used for 14 days (1 per day). In the positive control group (Tacrine group) 10 mg/kg of Tacrine, the dementia treatment, was medicated in an oral inoculation. After 30 mintues, 1 mg/kg of TMT intraperitoneal injection, which causes dementia, was used for 14 days (1 per day). The present author observed the passive avoidance performance test, and memory ability test (Y maze test), the values of MDA, acetlycholinesterase (AchE) activity in the brain and antioxidant enzyme in serum. MH extracts significantly improved memory of AD model rats in the Y-maze test, and also significantly improved memory of AD model rats in the passive avoidance test. MH extracts significantly reduced AChE activity, and significantly increased the SOD level, but not catalase and MDA. From the results above, MH extracts is thought to be effective in the improvement of antioxidant enzymes and memory ability.