Mannotriose, the main component of the Chinese herb Rehmannia, can improve learning and memory. Dr. Lina Zhang and colleagues from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China used 1 × 10 mol/L mannotriose to treat primary hippocampal neurons insulted with 1 × 10 mol/L corticosterone.
They found that hippocampal neuron survival rates and protein levels of glucocorticoid receptor, serum and glucocorticoid-regulated protein kinase, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor were all dramatically decreased after high-concentration corticosterone-induced injury. This effect was reversed by mannotriose, to a similar level as RU38486 and donepezil.
These findings, published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No. 32, 2013), indicate that mannotriose could protect hippocampal neurons from high-concentration corticosterone-induced injury.
The mechanism by which this occurred was associated with levels of glucocorticoid receptor protein, serum and glucocorticoid-regulated protein kinase, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor.
Source-Eurekalert