Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, 116, Taiwan.
Department of Life Sciences and Institute of Genome Sciences, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, 112, Taiwan.
Sci Rep. 2018 Oct 8;8(1):14947. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-32960-8.
Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) have been used to treat human diseases for thousands of years. Among them, Ginkgo biloba is reported to be beneficial to the nervous system and a potential treatment of neurological disorders. Since the presence of adult neural stem cells (NSCs) brings hope that the brain may heal itself, whether the effect of Ginkgo biloba is on NSCs remains elusive. In this study, we found that Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) and one of its main ingredients, ginkgolide B (GB) promoted cell cycle exit and neuronal differentiation in NSCs derived from the postnatal subventricular zone (SVZ) of the mouse lateral ventricle. Furthermore, the administration of GB increased the nuclear level of β-catenin and activated the canonical Wnt pathway. Knockdown of β-catenin blocked the neurogenic effect of GB, suggesting that GB promotes neuronal differentiation through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Thus, our data provide a potential mechanism underlying the therapeutic effect of GBE or GB on brain injuries and neurodegenerative disorders.
中药（CHMs）已经被用于治疗人类疾病几千年了。其中，银杏被报道对神经系统有益，是治疗神经紊乱的一种潜在疗法。由于成年神经干细胞（NSCs）的存在带来了大脑可能自我修复的希望，银杏的作用是否在于 NSCs 仍然难以捉摸。在这项研究中，我们发现银杏叶提取物（GBE）及其主要成分之一银杏内酯 B（GB）促进了源自小鼠侧脑室室下区（SVZ）的 NSCs 的细胞周期退出和神经元分化。此外，GB 的给药增加了β-catenin 的核水平并激活了经典的 Wnt 通路。β-catenin 的敲低阻断了 GB 的神经发生作用，表明 GB 通过 Wnt/β-catenin 通路促进神经元分化。因此，我们的数据为 GBE 或 GB 对脑损伤和神经退行性疾病的治疗效果提供了潜在的机制。
