Effects of Gegen on the Acetylcholine Release in Rat Hippocampus

Ge-gen (Pueraria root, PR, Pueraria lobata (WILLD) OHWI.) is distributed in Taiwan and used in clinical Chinese medicine for various purposes. It has a rich content of isoflavones such as puerarin, daidzin, and daidzein. In Chinese medicine, it is good at dispelling pathogens from mucles and channels and lifting lucid Yang-Qi in the spleen and stomach. It was believed to promote the production of the body fluid and quench thirst by its cool and moist nature. In modern researches, Ge-gen was reported to dilate coronary and cerbral blood vessels, increass the bloob flow, inhibit aggregation of platelets. Moreover, antialcohol abuse, antioxidation activities and prevention of the loss of learning and memory ability have been reported. The cholingeric system plays a central role in human memory and cognition. In the brain of Alzheimer？HH？HHs disease (AD), cholinergic dysfunction has been consistently described including a significant reduction of the level of Ach contents in the neocortex and hippocampus. Ascribed to these studies, the property that Ge-gen may enhance cholinergic function is of great interest. Therefore we investigated if Ge-gen could increase in vivo hippocampal extracellular acetylcholin release in normal rats by using microdialysis technique. We hope to develop Ge-gen as a health food with the effect of memory improvement.

Project ID:PG9108-0080
External Project ID:DOH92-TD-1011