Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal 576 104, India.
Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2009 Jun;6(2):203-10. doi: 10.1093/ecam/nem079. Epub 2007 Aug 13.
Centella asiatica (CeA) is a creeping herb, growing in moist places in India and other Asian Countries. Ayurvedic system of medicine, an alternate system of medicine in India, uses leaves of CeA for memory enhancement. Here, we have investigated the role of CeA fresh leaf juice treatment during growth spurt period of rats on dendritic morphology of amygdaloid neurons, one of the regions concerned with learning and memory. The present study was conducted on neonatal rat pups. The rat pups (7-days-old) were fed with 2, 4 and 6 ml/kg body of fresh leaf juice of CeA for 2, 4 and 6 weeks. After the treatment period, the rats were killed, brains removed and amygdaloid neurons impregnated with Silver nitrate (Golgi staining). Amygdaloid neurons were traced using camera lucida and dendritic branching points (a measure of dendritic arborization) and intersections (a measure dendritic length) quantified. These data were compared with those of age-matched control rats. The results showed a significant increase in dendritic length (intersections) and dendritic branching points along the length of dendrites of the amygdaloid neurons of rats treated with 4 and 6 ml/kg body weight/day of CeA for longer periods of time (i.e. 4 and 6 weeks). We conclude that constituents/active principles present in CeA fresh leaf juice has neuronal dendritic growth stimulating property; hence it can be used for enhancing neuronal dendrites in stress and other neurodegenerative and memory disorders.
积雪草（CeA）是一种匍匐草本植物，生长在印度和其他亚洲国家的潮湿地方。印度的替代医学体系——阿育吠陀医学，使用 CeA 的叶子来增强记忆力。在这里，我们研究了在大鼠生长突增期间给予 CeA 鲜叶汁治疗对杏仁核神经元树突形态的影响，杏仁核是与学习和记忆有关的区域之一。本研究在新生大鼠幼仔中进行。将大鼠幼仔（7 天大）用 2、4 和 6ml/kg 体重的 CeA 鲜叶汁喂养 2、4 和 6 周。治疗期结束后，处死大鼠，取出大脑并用硝酸银浸渍（高尔基染色）。使用明场显微镜追踪杏仁核神经元，并量化树突分支点（树突分支的度量）和交点（树突长度的度量）。将这些数据与年龄匹配的对照大鼠进行比较。结果表明，用 4 和 6ml/kg 体重/天的 CeA 处理更长时间（即 4 和 6 周），大鼠杏仁核神经元的树突长度（交点）和分支点显著增加。我们得出结论，CeA 鲜叶汁中的成分/活性成分具有神经元树突生长刺激特性；因此，它可用于增强应激和其他神经退行性和记忆障碍中的神经元树突。
