School of Chinese Pharmaceutical Sciences and Chinese Medicine Resources, Taiwan.
Am J Chin Med. 2011;39(3):551-63. doi: 10.1142/S0192415X11009020.
This study attempted to access the neuroprotective effect of diosgenin on the senescent mice induced by d-galactose (D-gal). The mice in the experiments were orally administered with diosgenin (1, 5, 25 and 125 mg/kg), for four weeks from the sixth week. The learning and memory abilities of the mice in Morris water maze test and the mechanism involved in the neuroprotective effect of diosgenin on the mice brain tissue were investigated. Diosgenin (5, 25 and 125 mg/kg, p.o.) showed significantly improved learning and memory abilities in Morris water maze test compared to D-gal treated mice (200 mg/kg, ten weeks). Diosgenin also increased the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and decreased the malondialdehyde (MDA) level in the brain of D-gal treated mice. These results indicated that diosgenin has the potential to be a useful treatment for cognitive impairment. In addition, the memory enhancing effect of diosgenin may be partly mediated via enhancing endogenous antioxidant enzymatic activities.
本研究旨在探讨薯蓣皂素对 D-半乳糖（D-gal）诱导衰老小鼠的神经保护作用。实验中，将小鼠从第 6 周开始连续 4 周经口给予薯蓣皂素（1、5、25 和 125mg/kg）。通过 Morris 水迷宫试验检测小鼠的学习记忆能力，并探讨薯蓣皂素对小鼠脑组织的神经保护作用机制。与 D-gal 处理组（200mg/kg，10 周）相比，薯蓣皂素（5、25 和 125mg/kg，po）可显著改善 Morris 水迷宫试验中小鼠的学习记忆能力。薯蓣皂素还可提高 D-gal 处理小鼠大脑中超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）和谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶（GSH-Px）的活性，降低丙二醛（MDA）水平。这些结果表明，薯蓣皂素有作为认知障碍治疗药物的潜力。此外，薯蓣皂素的增强记忆作用可能部分通过增强内源性抗氧化酶活性来介导。
