文摘
Proanthocyanidins extracted from lotus seedpod (LSPC) have been shown to ameliorate cognitive deficits and oxidative damage. However, there is no scientific evidence of combined LSPC and l-cysteine in the treatment for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in animal models. The first aim of this study was to study whether LSPC and l-cysteine combination was more potent than LSPC on improving memory impairment in alcohol-induced mice. The results showed LSPC and l-cysteine combination was more effective than LSPC, as indicated by same behavioral performance in Y-maze, but significantly enhanced total antioxidant capacity and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. The second goal of this study was to investigate whether different combination ratio of LSPC to l-cysteine impacts the cognition-enhancing effect in scopolamine-induced memory-deficit mice. Alterations in oxidative stress parameters and cholinergic activity in brains were also determined as possible mechanisms. Both M-Dose and H-Dose of LSPC and l-cysteine combination significantly improved scopolamine-induced memory impairment in Y-maze and step-down avoidance test by improving brain glutathione peroxidase and SOD activities, inhibiting brain malondialdehyde and hippocampus nitric oxide levels, inducible nitric oxide synthase activity in hippocampus and serum, and brain acetylcholinesterase activity. These results indicate that chronic administration of LSPC and l-cysteine combination ameliorates memory impairment, which may be related to inhibition of oxidative stress and improvement of cholinergic activity. These findings suggest LSPC and l-cysteine combination may provide a viable therapy in the treatment for AD and other forms of cognitive impairment.