The anti-depressant effect of Nelumbinis semen on rats under chronic mild stress induced depression-like symptoms.

Nelumbinis Semen is a well-known traditional herbal medicine frequently used in treatment of depression in many Asian countries. In this study, its anti-depression effects in rats were investigated by comparing the test results of those treated with Nelumbinis Semen to those treated with other herbal anti-depressants, including Rehmanniae Radix Preparat, Corni Fructus, Lycii Fructus, Pinelliae Rhizoma and Hypericum Perforatum. In order to induce depression-like symptoms, the animals were placed under chronic mild stress in the form of overnight illumination for 2 consecutive days. They were treated with the respective herbal extract and forced swimming tests were conducted afterwards. The anti-depression effects of each extract were then evaluated based on a measured index, which consisted of struggling time, first latency and first rest duration. These test results show that Nelumbinis Semen provides greater anti-depression effects than the other herbal extracts. Specifically, only the rats treated with Nelumbinis Semen showed significant increases in struggling time (43.9%, p < 0.005, p = 0.0037) and in first latency time (90.2%, p < 0.05, p = 0.0116). However, the first rest duration for Nelumbinis Semen treated rats was not significantly different from the other rats. It appears that Nelumbinis Semen provides even greater anti-depression effects than Hypericum Perforatum (commonly referred to as St. John's Wort, perhaps the most widely used natural antidepressant today). The anti-depression effects of Nelumbinis Semen might be due to the modulation of the amount of neurotransmitters involved in depression.

Yukmijihwang-tang derivatives enhance cognitive processing in normal young adults: a double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial.

Yukmijihwang-tang (YMJ), also known as Luweidihuang-tang in China, has been widely used as a general herbal tonic for hundreds of years in many Asian countries. This study examines whether YMJ derivatives (YMJd) enhance cognitive ability in normal human subjects and discusses its potential as treatment for dementia patients with deficient cognitive ability. Subjects were divided into two groups, the placebo-treated group (n = 15) and the YMJd-treated group (n = 20). K-WAIS tests, a Korean version of an individual intelligence quotient (IQ) test, and a P300 latency assessment of event-related potential (ERP) were conducted in order to measure changes in cognitive ability before and after 6 weeks of YMJd treatment. The K-WAIS mean scores of the group treated with YMJd were significantly higher than those of the placebo group (p < 0.05), and their mean P300 latency was substantially shorter (p < 0.005). These results suggest that YMJd treatment accelerates the speed of information processing and enhances cognitive ability. YMJd treatment may help dementia patients or the elderly recover from cognition deficiencies or degeneration in clinic.

Effects of Yukmijihwang-tang derivatives (YMJd), a memory enhancing herbal extract, on the gene-expression profile in the rat hippocampus.

The herbal extract Yukmijihwang-tang (YMJ) has been widely used for centuries as an anti-aging herbal medicine in Asian countries. Among the various modified prescriptions of YMJ, YMJ derivatives (YMJd) were formulated to enhance memory retention. This study has three goals: 1) to quantitatively evaluate the memory-enhancing effect of YMJd using behavior tasks; 2) to use cDNA micro-array tools to identify candidate genes responsible for enhancing memory; and 3) to statistically evaluate the specific gene expression patterns using Real-time PCR. Memory retention abilities are addressed by the passive avoidance task with SD male rat. The retention time of the YMJd group was significantly delayed (ca. 100%), whereas with Ginkgo biloba and Soya lecithin treatment, this was only delayed 20% and 10%, respectively. The cDNA from the hippocampi of YMJd and rat control groups were applied to an Incyte rat GEM2 cDNA microarray. The microarray results showed that transthyretin and PEP-19 were abundantly expressed in the YMJd treated group. Importantly, PEP-19 is a neuron-specific protein that inhibits apoptotic processes. On the other hand, neuronal genes involved in neuronal death or neurodegeneration, such as pentraxin and spectrin, were abundantly expressed in the control group. The list of differentially expressed genes may provide further insight into the action and mechanism behind the memory-enhancing effect of herbal extracts of YMJd.

Anti-obesity effect of PM-F2-OB, an anti-obesity herbal formulation, on rats fed a high-fat diet.

PM-F2-OB is one of the most well-known traditional herbal medicines that are frequently used for the treatment of obesity in Korea. The anti-obesity effect of PM-F2-OB on rats fed a high-fat diet was investigated through analyses of changes in body weight, kidney fat weight, and blood biochemicals including cholesterol, free fatty acid, BUN, creatinine, HDL, LDL, phospholipids, SGOT, SGPT, total lipids, and triglycerides. The subjects in this study were divided into four groups: a normal group with a standard diet (N); a PM-F2-OB treatment group fed a standard diet (N+PM-F2-OB); a control group fed a high-fat diet (C); and a PM-F2-OB treatment group fed a high-fat diet (C+PM-F2-OB). There were no significant differences in body weight change between the N and N+PM-F2-OB treatments. Also, there was no significant difference in the amount of food intake between the C and C+PM-F2-OB treatments. These results suggest that PM-F2-OB has no significant toxicity and does not induce a dislike for that diet due to its smell or taste. Rats were administered a high-fat diet (20% (w/w)) for six weeks to induce obesity. The study shows that PM-F2-OB significantly prevented increases in body weight, cholesterol, LDL and total lipids that resulted from the high-fat diet. PM-F2-OB also decreased kidney fat weight and free fatty acid, phospholipid, and triglyceride concentrations induced by the high-fat diet to level equals or below the normal diet group. It was concluded from the results that PM-F2-OB has a distinct anti-obesity effect.