title: Kami-Untan-To enhances choline acetyltransferase and Nerve growth factor mRNA levels in brain cultured cells.
abstract: Effects of a Kampo (Japanese herbal) medicine "kami-untan-to (KUT)" on central cholinergic neurons were examined in vitro. When rat embryo basal forebrain cells were cultured in the presence of KUT (200 μg/ml) for three days, a significant increase of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity was observed. When rat embryo astroglial cells were grown in culture in the presence of KUT (12.5-400 μg/ml) for over 24 hours, the amount of NGF secreted in quiescent astrocytes was increased in a dose-dependent manner; this was detected by the ELISA method. However, KUT did not affect the proliferation of astroglial cells. KUT-induced ChAT activity and NGF secretion were completely blocked in the presence of actinomycin D and/or cycloheximide without a loss in cell viability. The treatment with KUT increased levels of ChAT mRNA in basal forebrain cells and NGF mRNA in cerebral cortex cells, respectively, these results were confirmed by using the RT-PCR (reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction) method. These results suggest that KUT-induced ChAT activity and NGF secretion occur by modulating the transcriptional stage of both proteins.
authors.affiliation: Oriental Medicine Research Center of the Kitasato institute, Shirokane, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yabe
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamada