Antiinflammatory effect of the ethanol extract of Berberis koreana in a gerbil model of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion

Abstract

Berberis koreana extract (BE) has a strong neuroprotective effect after ischemic stroke in gerbils, which is associated with the inhibition of the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor. The present study examined the antiinflammatory mechanism of BE after ischemic damage in vitro and in vivo. The BE used contained on average 7.39 +/- 0.78 mg/g of berberine. In PC12 cells with inflammation, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production was significantly reduced by BE. About 75% of pyramidal cells in the hippocampal CA1 region of gerbils exposed to 5 min of transient ischemia were protected from ischemic damage by BE. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) immunoreactivity and its protein level in the CA1 region of vehicle-treated animals exposed to an ischemic insult increased with time post-ischemia, whereas no such changes were observed in BE-treated animals exposed to ischemia. PGE2 production in BE-treated ischemic animals was significantly lower than that observed in vehicle-treated ischemic animals. Summarizing, the potent neuroprotective effect of BE was found to be due to the inhibitions of COX-2 expression and PGE2 production and its antiinflammatory activity.

Effect of Berberine on MUC5AC Mucin Gene Expression and Mucin Production from Human Airway Epithelial Cells

“…ber of reports, Coptis japonica Makino and its components, berberine, have been used to control airway allergic or infl ammatory diseases and reported to have anti-infl ammatory and anti-cancer effects (Yoo et al, 2008;Sun et al, 2009;Tang et al, 2009). On the other hand, it was previously reported that berberine stimulated basal mucin release from airway goblet cells, by our group .…”

Neuroprotective Effect of Visnagin on Kainic Acid-induced Neuronal Cell Death in the Mice Hippocampus

“…It appears that khellin extracts have some antimicrobial activity; this might be attributable to both the khellin and visnagin constituents, which both seem to have antifungal, antibacterial, and antiviral activity [25]. In addition, several reports have demonstrated that drugs or compounds having an anti-inflammatory effect can show a neuroprotective effect [4,26,27]. Thus, we examined the effect of visnagin on proinflammatory mediators expression induced by KA.…”

Berberine: a plant alkaloid with therapeutic potential for central nervous system disorders

“…Alzheimer's (Zhu and Qian, 2006), forebrain ischemia (Yoo et al, 2006), mental depression (Kulkarni and Dhir, 2008), anxiety (Peng et al, 2004), etc. Berberine (7.45 ± 0.85 mg/g) has been identifi ed to reverse N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)-induced excitotoxicity when tested in gerbil hippocampal neurons (Yoo et al, 2008). In one study, it has been demonstrated that berberine (1 or 2 mg/kg., p.o.)…”

“…An interesting study has demonstrated the protective action of the extract of Berberis koreana (contains an average of 7.39+/−0.78 mg/g berberine) in a gerbil model of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion. It was hypothesized that the anti-infl ammatory activity of berberine may be responsible for the neuroprotective action in cerebral ischemia (Yoo et al, 2008). It has been demonstrated that berberine (20 mg/kg/day for 1, 3, or 5 days) reduced the platelet aggregation and thromboxane levels (a powerful platelet aggregator) in rats, which may be partly responsible for its neuroprotective action in animal models of cerebral ischemia (Wu and Liu, 1995).…”

“…Berberine possesses anti-infl ammatory properties (Yoo et al, 2008) which may be one of the mechanisms in its neuroprotective action in AD. Berberine (60 mg/kg), when administered for three days in gerbils, has demonstrated cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibiting property (Yoo et al, 2008). Recently, COX-2 inhibitors, because of their anti-infl ammatory action, have been speculated to possess neuroprotective action .…”