Ginkgo biloba L. (Ginkgoaceae) Leaf Extract Medications From Different Providers Exhibit Differential Functional Effects on Mouse Frontal Cortex Neuronal Networks

Abstract

Background: Details of the extraction and purification procedure can have a profound impact on the composition of plant-derived extracts, and thus on their efficacy and safety. So far, studies with head-to-head comparison of the pharmacology of Ginkgo extracts rendered by different procedures have been rare.Objective: The objective of this study was to explore whether Ginkgo biloba L. (Ginkgoaceae) leaf extract medications of various sources protect against amyloid beta toxicity on primary mouse cortex neurons growing on microelectrode arrays, and whether the effects differ between different Ginkgo extracts.Design: Our brain-on-chip platform integrates microelectrode array data recorded on neuronal tissue cultures from embryonic mouse cortex. Amyloid beta 42 (Aβ42) and various Ginkgo extract preparations were added to the networks in vitro before evaluation of electrophysiological parameters by multi-parametric analysis. A Multi-variate data analysis, called Effect Score, was designed to compare effects between different products.Results: The results show that Ginkgo extracts protected against Aβ42-induced electrophysiological alterations. Different Ginkgo extracts exhibited different effects. Of note, the reference Ginkgo biloba L. (Ginkgoaceae) leaf medication Tebonin had the most pronounced rescuing effect.Conclusion: Here, we show for the first time a side-by-side analysis of a large number of Ginkgo medications in a relevant in vitro system modeling early functional effects induced by amyloid beta peptides on neuronal transmission and connectivity. Ginkgo biloba L. (Ginkgoaceae) leaf extract from different manufactures exhibit differential functional effects in this neural network model. This in-depth analysis of functional phenotypes of neurons cultured on MEAs chips allows identifying optimal plant extract formulations protecting against toxin-induced functional effects in vitro.

Balance Training With Vibrotactile Neurofeedback and Ginkgo Biloba Extract in Age-Related Vertigo

“…Product category (e.g., food supplement, traditional herbal medicinal product, fully approved drug) depends on local legal regulations, resulting in highly variable regulatory and quality requirements. High variability of constituents and even adulterations have been reported for food supplements ( 32 ), but differences in pharmacologically active constituents have even been found in fully regulated drugs ( 33 ). EGb 761 is a highly standardized product meeting quality requirements for approved medicinal products.…”

Ginkgo biloba leaf extract EGb 761® as a paragon of the product by process concept

“…Although the model used by Bader et al (2018) The aforementioned experiments were conducted in preclinical models. To examine whether disparate effects of various G. biloba preparations could be observed in human, the effects of three different commercially available G. biloba products, including one containing EGb 761 ® (Ginkgold ® ) were examined (Itil and Martorano, 1995).…”

“…Using a sophisticated multi-electrode array to examine connectivity and many other parameters on primary cultures of mouse cortical neurons, the effect of various G. biloba medications purchased from a pharmacy were used in a model for protection against toxic Aβ42 ( Bader et al, 2018 ). In this “brain on a chip” model, medication containing differently prepared extracts displayed different effects.…”

Molecular Level Insight Into the Benefit of Myricetin and Dihydromyricetin Uptake in Patients With Alzheimer’s Diseases

“…Moreover, many MYR and DMY containing foods are also reported to have some neuroprotective abilities. Ginkgo and its extracts have long been considered to have a good effect on the treatment of AD (Bader et al, 2018;Li et al, 2018). Aloe vera and mulberry are often considered to have additional anti-dementia effects (Clementi et al, 2015;Liu and Du, 2020).…”