title: ESP-102, a standardized combined extract of Angelica gigas, Saururus chinensis and Schizandra chinensis, significantly improved scopolamine-induced memory impairment in mice.
abstract: We assessed the effects of oral treatments of ESP-102, a standardized combined extract of Angelica gigas, Saururus chinensis and Schizandra chinensis, on learning and memory deficit. The cognition-enhancing effect of ESP-102 was investigated in scopolamine-induced (1 mg/kg body weight, s.c.) amnesic mice with both passive avoidance and Morris water maze performance tests. Acute oral treatment (single administration prior to scopolamine treatment) of mice with ESP-102 (doses in the range of 10 to 100 mg/kg body weight) significantly reduced scopolamine-induced memory deficits in the passive avoidance performance test. Another noteworthy result included the fact that prolonged oral daily treatments of mice with much lower amounts of ESP-102 (1 and 10 mg/kg body weight) for ten days reversed scopolamine-induced memory deficits. In the Morris water maze performance test, both acute and prolonged oral treatments with ESP-102 (single administration of 100 mg/kg body weight or prolonged daily administration of 1 and 10 mg/kg body weight for ten days, respectively, significantly ameliorated scopolamine-induced memory deficits as indicated by the formation of long-term and/or short-term spatial memory. In addition, we investigated the effects of ESP-102 on neurotoxicity induced by amyloid-beta peptide (Abeta25-35) or glutamate in primary cultured cortical neurons of rats. Pretreatment of cultures with ESP-102 (0.001, 0.01 and 0.1 mug/ml) significantly protected neurons from neurotoxicity induced by either glutamate or Abeta25-35. These results suggest that ESP-102 may have some protective characteristics against neuronal cell death and cognitive impairments often observed in Alzheimer's disease, stroke, ischemic injury and other neurodegenerative diseases.
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy and Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: So Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Ki Yong
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kyung Ah
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Koo
authors.forename: Jeong Seon
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Song Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Young Choong
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sang Hyun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Sung
mesh_terms: D000110:Acetylcholinesterase / Q000378:metabolism; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000633:toxicity; D029969:Angelica; D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000633:toxicity; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000633:toxicity; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D032134:Saururaceae; D032141:Schisandra; D012601:Scopolamine / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; C546792:ESP 102; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D010936:Plant Extracts; C074636:amyloid beta-protein (25-35); D018698:Glutamic Acid; D012601:Scopolamine; D000110:Acetylcholinesterase