Phytoceramide Shows Neuroprotection and Ameliorates Scopolamine-Induced Memory Impairment

Molecules

Jae-Chul Jung¹  Yeonju Lee¹  Sohyeon Moon¹  Jong Hoon Ryu¹ 

[1] ¹Department of Neuroscience and TIDRC, School of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 158-710, Korea ²Department of Oriental Pharmaceutical Science, College of Pharmacy, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701, Korea ³Institute of Life Science Research, Rexgene Biotech, Ochang, Chungbuk 368-831, Korea

关键词: phytoceramide;    phytosphingosine;    neurotoxicity;    memory;    L-glutamate;    neuron;   

DOI  :  10.3390/molecules16119090

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The function and the role phytoceramide (PCER) and phytosphingosine (PSO) in the central nervous system has not been well studied. This study was aimed at investigating the possible roles of PCER and PSO in glutamate-induced neurotoxicity in cultured neuronal cells and memory function in mice. Phytoceramide showed neuro-protective activity in the glutamate-induced toxicity in cultured cortical neuronal cells. Neither phytosphingosine nor tetraacetylphytosphingosine (TAPS) showed neuroproective effects in neuronal cells. PCER (50 mg/kg, p.o.) recovered the scopolamine-induced reduction in step-through latency in the passive avoidance test; however, PSO did not modulate memory function on this task. The ameliorating effects of PCER on spatial memory were confirmed by the Morris water maze test. In conclusion, through behavioral and neurochemical experimental results, it was demonstrated that central administration of PCER produces amelioration of memory impairment. These results suggest that PCER plays an important role in neuroprotection and memory enhancement and PCER could be a potential new therapeutic agent for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.