Inhibitory Effect of an Ethanol Extract Mixture of Vitis amurensis, Aralia cordata, and Glycyrrhizae radix on Amyloid β Protein (25-35)-Induced Neurotoxicity

【The present study investigated an ethanol extract (SSB) of a mixture of three medicinal plants of Vitis amurensis, Aralia cordata, and Glycyrrhizae radix for possible neuroprotective effects on neurotoxicity induced by Amyloid ${\beta}$ protein ( $A{\beta}$ ) (25-35) in cultured rat cortical neurons and antidementia activity in mice. Exposure of cultured cortical neurons to $15{\mu}M$ $A{\beta}$ (25-35) for 36 h induced neuronal apoptotic death. At $1-30{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ , SSB inhibited neuronal death, elevation of intracellular calcium concentration ( $[Ca^{2+} ] _i$ ), and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by $A{\beta}$ (25-35) in cultured cortical neurons. Memory impairment and increase of acetylcholinesterase activity induced by intracerebroventricular injection of mice with 16 nmol $A{\beta}$ (25-35) was inhibited by chronic treatment with SSB (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg, p.o., for 8 days). From these results, it is suggested that antidementia effect of SSB is due to its neuroprotective effect against $A{\beta}$ (25-35)-induced neurotoxicity and that SSB may have a therapeutic role in preventing the progression of Alzheimer's disease.】