Planta Med 2001; 67(7): 634-637
DOI: 10.1055/s-2001-17366
Original Paper
Pharmacology
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Effect of Ginseng Saponins on β-Amyloid-Suppressed Acetylcholine Release from Rat Hippocampal Slices

Tze-fun Lee1 , Young-Ji Shiao2 , Chieh-Fu Chen2 , Lawrence C. H. Wang1,*
  • 1 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
  • 2 Institute of Pharmacology, National Yang-Ming Medical College, Taipei, Taiwan
Further Information

Publication History

October 25, 2000

January 21, 2001

Publication Date:
24 September 2001 (online)

Preview

Abstract

In view of the facts that ginseng has been shown to improve age-related memory deficits and β-amyloid-related peptides have been suggested to play a significant role in memory degeneration in the elderly, the present study was carried out to examine the effect of various ginsenosides on β-amyloid peptides-modulated acetylcholine (ACh) release, a key neurotransmitter in memory processing, from the hippocampal slices. Addition of β-amyloid fragment25 - 35 (0.01 - 1 μM) in the superfusion medium suppressed the K+-evoked [3 H]-ACh release from the rat hippocampal slices in a concentration-related manner and about 40 % reduction in ACh outflow was observed when incubating with the highest concentration of an amyloid fragment (1 μM). Inclusion of the ginsenoside components Rb1 (0.1 μM), but not Rg1, caused a rightward shift of the concentration-response curve of β-amyloid. The reversal of the β-amyloid-inhibited ACh release by Rb1 was not blocked by tetrodotoxin (1 μM) indicating that an interaction occurs at the cholinergic synapse. These results suggest that Rb1 may elicit its anti-amnesic effect by minimizing the inhibitory effect of β-amyloid peptides.

References

Dr. Lawrence C. H. Wang

Department of Biological Sciences

Biological Sciences Building

University of Alberta

Edmonton

Alberta T6G 2E9

Canada

Email: larry.wang.@ualberta.ca

Fax: +1-780-492-1667