Maqueshudul Haque Bhuiyan Mohammad, Mohibbullah Md, Hannan Md Abdul, Hong Yong-Ki, Choi Jae-Suk, Choi In Soon, Moon Il Soo
Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Dongguk University, Gyeongju 780-714, Republic of Korea.
Am J Chin Med. 2015;43(3):529-42. doi: 10.1142/S0192415X15500330.
Reductions in neurotrophic factors are implicated in synaptic dysfunction in the central nervous system, but exogenous neurotrophic factors with potential effects on neuritic regeneration and synaptic reconstruction could offer therapeutic and preventive strategies for treating memory-related neurological disorders. In an earlier effort to identify natural neurotrophic agents, we found that the ethanol extract of the edible marine alga Undaria pinnatifida (UPE) had promising effects on the neuritogenesis of cultured hippocampal neurons. Here, we further investigated the ability of UPE to promote spinogenesis and synaptogenesis in primary cultures of hippocampal neurons. It was found that UPE triggered significant increase in numbers of dendritic filopodia and spines, promoted the formation of excitatory and inhibitory synapses, and potentiated synaptic transmission by increasing the sizes of reserve vesicle pools at presynaptic terminals. These findings indicate a substantial role for UPE in the morphological and functional maturation of neurons and suggest that UPE is a possible therapeutic preventative measure and treatment for neurodegenerative diseases, such as those involving cognitive disorders and memory impairments.
神经营养因子的减少与中枢神经系统的突触功能障碍有关，但对神经突再生和突触重建有潜在影响的外源性神经营养因子可为治疗与记忆相关的神经疾病提供治疗和预防策略。在早期鉴定天然神经营养剂的工作中，我们发现可食用海藻裙带菜的乙醇提取物（UPE）对培养的海马神经元的神经突生成有显著作用。在此，我们进一步研究了UPE在海马神经元原代培养物中促进棘突生成和突触生成的能力。结果发现，UPE引发树突丝状伪足和棘突数量显著增加，促进兴奋性和抑制性突触的形成，并通过增加突触前终末储备囊泡池的大小来增强突触传递。这些发现表明UPE在神经元的形态和功能成熟中起重要作用，并表明UPE可能是治疗神经退行性疾病（如涉及认知障碍和记忆损伤的疾病）的预防措施和治疗方法。
