• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.38-45
• /
• 2024

To compare and analyze the improvement effects of white ginseng extract, red ginseng extract, and black ginseng extract on cognitive dysfunction and memory impairment caused by scopolamine in rats. In the cognitive behavioral test, the tendency of the SCOP+B group to overcome the escape time delay induced by scopolamine administration was observed, unlike the SCOP group. The frequency on plat form was significantly increased in the group treated with ginseng extracts compared to the SCOP group. As a result of measuring the duration time on goal quadrant, the time spent in the quadrant was significantly increased in the SCOP+B group compared to the SCOP group. In the hippocampus, the SCOP-treated group significantly decreased the activity of AChE compared to the normal group, but the ginseng extract-treated groups significantly increased it compared to the SCOP group. After sacrificing the rats after the behavioral test, the expression of PSD95 protein in the excised brain was significantly decreased in the SCOP group compared to normal, but it was observed that the SCOP+R and SCOP+B groups were significantly increased compared to the SCOP group. CREB1 protein expression was significantly increased in the SCOP+R group, and the expression of Cdk5 was significantly increased in the SCOP+B group. Ginseng extracts significantly restored the memory damaged by scopolamine suggesting that red ginseng increased the expression of CREB1 and PSD95 proteins, and black ginseng increased the protein expression of Cdk5 and PSD95 to induce memory recovery.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.789-794
• /
• 2013

Hemorrhage is a devastating type of stroke, accounts for 15-20% of all strokes. This disease can cause cognitive dysfunction with a very high mortality rate. Cupping therapy of Traditional Korean medicine has frequently been used to relieve a variety of diseases or clinical conditions, although not in the memory loss after hemorrhage. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of cupping therapy on learning and memory with Y-maze test, as well as its effects on different molecular changes in hippocampus following the induction of hemorrhage in rats. Cupping, using vacuum cupping machine, was applied at target area for 5 min daily for 7 consecutive days, commencing 1 day after brain impairment. As a result, induction of hemorrhage enhanced memory deficit, suppressed brain-derived neurotrophin factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus. Cupping treatment effectively reversed collagenase-induced cognitive impairment in SD rats which was represented by improvement of spontaneous alterations in Y-maze test. In addition, BDNF expression was enhanced after cupping therapy. The present results suggest that the therapeutic effects of cupping treatment after hemorrhage is involved in expression of BDNF.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.60-65
• /
• 2007

An unconscious 5-year-old girl was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. She was neglected by her parents; she suffered from inadequate nutritional, medical and emotional care. The girl appeared to be emotionally detached, dehydrated and malnourished; she had edematous extremities, moderately bruised skin and brittle coarse hair. Laboratory testing showed electrolyte imbalance, anemia, pneumonia, copper deficiency, and liver dysfunction in addition to severe protein-energy malnutrition (PEM). Medical intervention was followed by improvement of most of the symptoms. During the rehabilitation phase, the patient showed a voracious appetite and gained weight too fast. The liver became enlarged and the patient developed a mild fever due to excessive nutrition. The microcytic anemia with severe PEM did not responded to iron supplementation possibly due to the copper deficiency. Addition of copper without zinc and iron helped to improve the anemia. The patient was discharged to a childcare center where she received cognitive and psychosocial therapy.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.747-753
• /
• 2019

Cognitive decline is characterized by reduced long-/short-term memory and attention span, and increased depression and anxiety. Such decline is associated with various degenerative brain disorders, especially Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). The increases in elderly populations suffering from cognitive decline create social problems and impose economic burdens, and also pose safety threats; all of these problems have been extensively researched over the past several decades. Possible causes of cognitive decline include metabolic and hormone imbalance, infection, medication abuse, and neuronal changes associated with aging. However, no treatment for cognitive decline is available. In neurodegenerative diseases, changes in the gut microbiota and gut metabolites can alter molecular expression and neurobehavioral symptoms. Changes in the gut microbiota affect memory loss in AD via the downregulation of NMDA receptor expression and increased glutamate levels. Furthermore, the use of probiotics resulted in neurological improvement in an AD model. PD and gut microbiota dysbiosis are linked directly. This interrelationship affected the development of constipation, a secondary symptom in PD. In a PD model, the administration of probiotics prevented neuron death by increasing butyrate levels. Dysfunction of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) has been identified in AD and PD. Increased BBB permeability is also associated with gut microbiota dysbiosis, which led to the destruction of microtubules via systemic inflammation. Notably, metabolites of the gut microbiota may trigger either the development or attenuation of neurodegenerative disease. Here, we discuss the correlation between cognitive decline and the gut microbiota.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.188-195
• /
• 2017

Objectives Schizophrenia is characterized by disturbances in perception and cognition. Attenuated mismatch negativity (MMN) reflects central auditory dysfunction in schizophrenia. The aim of this study is to compare MMN changes before and after treatment in schizophrenia patients and to assess their association with treatment response. Methods Twenty-three schizophrenia patients underwent an oddball paradigm. MMN was calculated by the difference waveforms of the event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by subtracting standard from deviant stimulus. The clinical symptoms were measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Psychotic Symptom Rating Scale (PSYRATS). Follow-up evaluation was conducted when the PANSS total score decreased by 30% or more (treatment response group) or before discharge (non-response group). Results The treatment response group showed significantly larger MMN amplitude improvement and latency reduction than the non-response group after treatment (Fz ; mean amplitude p = 0.035, FCz ; p = 0.041). The auditory hallucination group showed shorter latency than that of the group without hallucinations. Additionally, auditory hallucination was associated with prolonged MMN latency and shortened after treatment in the auditory hallucination response group (Fz ; p = 0.048). Conclusions These results suggest that the attenuated MMN amplitude reflects the progression of the disease. The increment of MMN amplitude and shortening of latency after treatment may reflect cognitive functional recovery of central auditory sensory processing.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.44 no.4
• /
• pp.428-433
• /
• 2012

Probiotics and their products, such as yogurt and cheese have been widely consumed in many countries with proven health benefits including anti-microbial activity and anti-diarrheal activity. LHFM (Lactobacillus helveticus - fermented milk) is a processed skim milk powder, fermented by a probiotics, L. helveticus IDCC3801. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the neuroprotective effects and the cognitive improvements of LHFM. LHFM itself did not show any cytotoxicity to the human neuroblastoma cell line, SH-SY5Y; however, it dose-dependently protected against glutamate-induced neuronal cell death. LHFM also attenuated scopolamine-induced memory deficit in Y-maze and Morris-water maze. In the analysis of hippocampus after a behavior test, LHFM significantly increased the acetylcholine level and also inhibited acetylcholine esterase activity. Therefore, the raised acetylcholine release partially contributes to the improvement of learning and memory by a treatment with LHFM. These results suggest that LHFM is an effective material for prevention or improvement of cognitive impairments caused by neuronal cell damage and central cholinergic dysfunction.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.15-22
• /
• 2004

Objectives: Delirium after head trauma results in various cognitive and behavioral dysfunction. This study aimed at developing and validating a predicitive model for clinical improvement after delirium based on precipitating factors during hospitalization Method: Data were collected on 45 patients who developed delirium after head trauma using 5 year retrospective design, based on reviews of medical charts including psychiatric consultation reports. The differences of the group who sustained residual symptoms of delirium(The RS group) and the group of full recovery(The FR group) at 4 week follow-up visits were compared by motoric type of delirium, socio-demographic variables, neuroimaging variables and clinical variables of interest. Result: There was significant difference in reason for initial consultation between two groups, in terms of hyperactivity(p<.01). The presence of compensation claim, subcortical gray matter lesion was significantly associated with the RS group(p<.05). Total length of intensive care unit(ICU) admission and of hospital stay were significantly longer in RS group than FR group(p<.01). Conclusion: This study shows that hyperactivity on initial consultation, compensation claims, specific brain lesion were altogether significant factors in explaining prolonged duration of delirium after head trauma. A simple predictive model based on the presence of precipitating factors might be used to identify delirious patients at high risk for prolonged cognitive dysfunction. Early psychiatric intervention would be required for evaluating efficacious management and shortening admission period.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.491-499
• /
• 2015

Purpose: This study was to examine how decline of visual function affects visual perception by assessing visual perception after improving visual function through visual training, and observing the change in the cognitive ability of visual perception. Methods: This study analyzes the visual perceptual evaluation (TVPS_R) of 23 children below age 13($8.75{\pm}1.66$) who have visual abnormalities, and improves visual function after conducting vision training (vision therapy) of the children. Results: Convergence increased from average $3.39{\pm}2.52{\Delta}$ (prism) to $13.87{\pm}6.04{\Delta}$ in the measurement of long-distance disparate points, and from average $5.48{\pm}3.42{\Delta}$ to $18.43{\pm}7.58{\Delta}$ in the measurement of short-distance disparate points. Short-distance diplopia points increased from $25.87{\pm}7.33cm$ to $7.48{\pm}2.87cm$, and as for accommodative insufficiency, short-distance blur points increased from $19.57{\pm}7.16cm$ to $7.09{\pm}1.88cm$. In the visual perceptual evaluation performed before and after improving visual function, 6 items except visual memory showed statistically significant improvement. By order of significant improvement, response gap was highest with $17.74{\pm}16.94$(p=0.000) in visual closure, followed by $15.65{\pm}17.11$(p=0.000) in visual sequential-memory, $13.65{\pm}16.63$(p=0.001) in visual figure-ground, $12.74{\pm}18.41$(p=0.003) in visual form-constancy, $6.48{\pm}10.07$ (p=0.005) in visual discrimination, and $4.17{\pm}9.33$(p=0.043) in visual spatial-relationship. In the visual perception quotient that added up these scores, the response gap was $15.22{\pm}8.66$(p=0.000), showing a more significant result. Conclusions: Vision training enables efficient visual processing and improves visual perceptual ability. It was confirmed that improvement of visual function through visual training not only improves abnormal visual function but also affects visual perception of children such as learning, perception and recognition.