Journal articles on the topic 'Huperzia serrata; Alzheimer's'

Huperzine A, alkaloid from the Chinese herbal medicine Qian Ceng Ta, which is prepared from the moss Huperzia serrata, has been used in China for centuries to treat fever and inflammation. Huperzine A is a strong inhibitor of cholinesterases with high selectivity to acetylcholinesterase and in China is developed as therapeutic against Alzheimer's disease. May be that huperzine A will be better than other centrally active anticholinesterases in treating this neurodegenerative disorder. Huperzine A appears to have additional pharmacological properties that make it an attractive candidate therapy for clinical trials.

Huperzine A, an alkaloid, was originally isolated from Huperzia serrata. This compound potentially enhances the memory in animal, hence, it has been approved as a drug for the clinical treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, a major disease affecting the elderly population throughout the world. Because Huperzine A is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, the presentation of Huperzine A in brain inhibited acetylcholinesterase activity, thus, leading to the increase in concentration of acetylcoline. In Vietnam, H. serrata distributed in Sapa (Lao Cai) and Da Lat (Lam Dong), this species provide valuable pharmaceutical materials to the treatment for Alzheimer’s diseases. In this research, we evaluated the availability of Huperzine A in Huperzia serrata, which was collected from Da Lat (Lam Dong) in two seasons: Spring and Autunm. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) method was used to preliminary qualitative analysis. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method were used for determining Huperzine A content in samples. In the result, Huperzine A is almost existed in leaves of Da Lat Huperzia serrata and equivalent levels of Chinese Huperzia serrata. The Content of Huperzine A was different between two collection samples in Spring and Autumn, by analyze HPLC data, the samples was harvested in Autumn contents 92.5 µg.g-1dry sample and the spring is 75.4 µg.g-1 dry sample. Therefore, the content of Huperzine A in Huperzia serrata’s leaves sample is harvested in the fall compared with samples collected in the spring is higher 17.1 µg.g-1dry samples.

Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common neurodegenerative disorder associated with dementia, not only severely decreases the quality of life for its victims, but also brings a heavy economic burden to the family and society. Unfortunately, few chemical drugs designed for clinical applications have reached the expected preventive or therapeutic effect so far, and combined with their significant side-effects, there is therefore an urgent need for new strategies to be developed for AD treatment. Traditional Chinese Medicine has accumulated many experiences in the treatment of dementia during thousands of years of practice; modern pharmacological studies have confirmed the therapeutic effects of many active components derived from Chinese herbal medicines (CHM). Ginsenoside Rg1, extracted from Radix Ginseng, exerts a [Formula: see text]-secretase inhibitor effect so as to decrease A[Formula: see text] aggregation. It can also inhibit the apoptosis of neuron cells. Tanshinone IIA, extracted from Radix Salviae miltiorrhizae, and baicalin, extracted from Radix Scutellariae[Formula: see text] can inhibit the oxidative stress injury in neuronal cells. Icariin, extracted from Epimedium brevicornum, can decrease A[Formula: see text] levels and the hyperphosphorylation of tau protein, and can also inhibit oxidative stress and apoptosis. Huperzine A, extracted from Huperzia serrata, exerts a cholinesterase inhibitor effect. Evodiamine, extracted from Fructus Evodiae, and curcumin, extracted from Rhizoma Curcumae Longae, exert anti-inflammatory actions. Curcumin can act on A[Formula: see text] and tau too. Due to the advantages of multi-target effects and fewer side effects, Chinese medicine is more appropriate for long-term use. In this present review, the pharmacological effects of commonly used active components derived from Chinese herbal medicines in the treatment of AD are discussed.

AbstractThe alkaloids huperzine A and huperzine B were originally isolated from the Chinese club moss Huperzia serrata. They are known inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase, and especially huperzine A shows pharmaceutical potential for the treatment of Alzheimerʼs disease. Its supply heavily relies on natural plant sources belonging to the genus Huperzia, which shows considerable interspecific huperzine A variations. Furthermore, taxonomic controversy remains in this genus, particularly in the Huperzia selago group. With focus on Icelandic H. selago taxa, we aimed to explore the relatedness of Huperzia species using multi-locus phylogenetic analysis, and to investigate correlations between huperzine A contents, morphotypes, and genotypes. Phylogenetic analysis was performed with five chloroplastic loci (the intergenic spacer between the photosystem II protein D1 gene and the tRNA-His gene, maturase K, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase large subunit, tRNA-Leu, and the intergenic spacer region between tRNA-Leu and tRNA-Phe). Huperzine A and huperzine B contents were determined using an HPLC-UV method. The phylogenetic analysis suggests that previously proposed Huperzia appressa and Huperzia arctica should not be considered species, but rather subspecies of H. selago. Three genotypes of Icelandic H. selago were identified and presented in a haplotype networking diagram. A significantly (p < 0.05) higher amount of huperzine A was found in H. selago genotype 3 (264 – 679 µg/g) than genotype 1 (20 – 180 µg/g), where the former shows a typical green and reflexed “selago” morphotype. The huperzine A content in genotype 3 is comparable to Chinese H. serrata and a good alternative huperzine A source. Genotype 2 contains multiple morphotypes with a broad huperzine A content (113 – 599 µg/g). The content of huperzine B in Icelandic taxa (6 – 13 µg/g) is much lower than that in Chinese H. serrata (79 – 207 µg/g).

As the population ages globally, there seem to be more people with Alzheimer’s disease. Unfortunately, there is currently no specific treatment for the disease. At present, Huperzine A (HupA) is one of the best drugs used for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and has been used in clinical trials for several years in China. HupA was first separated from Huperzia serrata, a traditional medicinal herb that is used to cure fever, contusions, strains, hematuria, schizophrenia, and snakebite for several hundreds of years in China, and has been confirmed to have acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity. With the very slow growth of H. serrata, resources are becoming too scarce to meet the need for clinical treatment. Some endophytic fungal strains that produce HupA were isolated from H. serrate in previous studies. In this article, the diversity of the endophytic fungal community within H. serrata was observed and the relevance to the production of HupA by the host plant was further analyzed. A total of 1167 strains were obtained from the leaves of H. serrata followed by the stems (1045) and roots (824). The richness as well as diversity of endophytic fungi within the leaf and stem were higher than in the root. The endophytic fungal community was similar within stems as well as in leaves at all taxonomic levels. The 11 genera (Derxomyces, Lophiostoma, Cyphellophora, Devriesia, Serendipita, Kurtzmanomyces, Mycosphaerella, Conoideocrella, Brevicellicium, Piskurozyma, and Trichomerium) were positively correlated with HupA content. The correlation index of Derxomyces with HupA contents displayed the highest value (CI = 0.92), whereas Trichomerium showed the lowest value (CI = 0.02). Through electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), it was confirmed that the HS7-1 strain could produce HupA and the total alkaloid concentration was 3.7 ug/g. This study will enable us to screen and isolate the strain that can produce HupA and to figure out the correlation between endophytic fungal diversity with HupA content in different plant organs. This can provide new insights into the screening of strains that can produce HupA more effectively.

Alkaloids having acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity are commonly found in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM); for example, berberine from Coptis chinensis, galantamine from Lycoris radiata, and huperzine A from Huperzia serrata. In practice of TCM, Stephaniae Tetrandrae Radix (STR) is often combined with Coptidis Rhizoma (CR) or Phellodendri Chinensis Cortex (PCC) as paired herbs during clinical application. Fangchinoline from STR and coptisine and/or berberine from CR and/or PCC are active alkaloids in inhibiting AChE. The traditional usage of paired herbs suggests the synergistic effect of fangchinoline–coptisine or fangchinoline–berberine pairing in AChE inhibition. HPLC was applied to identify the main components in herbal extracts of STR, CR, and PCC, and the AChE inhibition of their main components was determined by Ellman assay. The synergism of herb combination and active component combination was calculated by median-effect principle. Molecular docking was applied to investigate the underlying binding mechanisms of the active components with the AChE protein. It was found that fangchinoline showed AChE inhibitory potency; furthermore, fangchinoline–coptisine/berberine pairs (at ratios of 1:5, 1:2, 1:1, and 2:1) synergistically inhibited AChE; the combination index (CI) at different ratios was less than one when Fa = 0.5, suggesting synergistic inhibition of AChE. Furthermore, the molecular docking simulation supported this enzymatic inhibition. Therefore, fangchinoline–coptisine/berberine pairs, or their parental herbal mixtures, may potentially be developed as a possible therapeutic strategy for Alzheimer’s patients.

The prevalence of cognitive impairment and dementia caused by cerebrovascular disease is likely to increase with the global aging population. Vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID) is a wide spectrum term used to include a diverse heterogeneous group of cognitive syndromes with vascular factors regardless of the cause of pathogenesis. VCID ranges from mild cognitive impairment to full-blown dementia with vascular dementia (VaD) as the most severe stage. It is further complexed by the coexistence of other forms of dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recent researches in the functions of the neurovascular unit (NVU) suggest that dysfunction of the NVU might be the cause of primary vascular events in the brain that leads to further neurodegeneration. In this review, we have briefly summarized various forms of VCID. There is currently no standard therapy for VCID or dementia. Given the fact that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has gained popularity worldwide, we also reviewed recent scientific and clinical findings on various antidementia TCM for the treatment of VCID, including Salvia miltiorrhiza, Huperzia serrata, Ligusticum chuanxiong, Ginkgo biloba, Panax ginseng, and also TCM formula Sailuotong capsule (SLT) and Fufangdanshen tablets (FFDS).

Background: Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) has become the most common age-dependent disease of dementia. The trademark pathologies of AD are the presence of amyloid aggregates in neurofibrils. Recently phytochemicals being considered as potential inhibitors against various neurodegenerative, antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral diseases in human beings. Objective: This study targets the inhibition of BACE-1 by phytochemicals using in silico drug discovery analysis. Methods: A total of 3150 phytochemicals were collected from almost 25 different plants through literature assessment. The ADMET studies, molecular docking and density functional theory (DFT) based analysis were performed to analyze the potential inhibitory properties of these phytochemicals. Results: The ADMET and docking results exposed seven compounds that have high potential as an inhibitory agent against BACE-1 and show binding affinity >8.0 kcal/mol against BACE-1. They show binding affinity greater than those of various previously reported inhibitors of BACE-1. Furthermore, DFT based analysis has shown high reactivity for these seven phytochemicals in the binding pocket of BACE- 1, based on ELUMO, EHOMO and Kohn-Sham energy gap. All seven phytochemicals were testified (as compared to experimental ones) as novel inhibitors against BACE-1. Conclusion: Out of seven phytochemicals, four were obtained from plant Glycyrrhiza glabra i.e. Shinflavanone, Glabrolide, Glabrol and PrenyllicoflavoneA, one from Huperzia serrate i.e. Macleanine, one from Uncaria rhynchophylla i.e. 3a-dihydro-cadambine and another one was from VolvalerelactoneB from plant Valeriana-officinalis. It is concluded that these phytochemicals are suitable candidates for drug/inhibitor against BACE-1, and can be administered to humans after experimental validation through in vitro and in vivo trials.

Herbal extract, rich with natural compounds, has been used for medicinal purpose such as treating neurological disorders such as cognitive defection for a long period of time, often without significant adverse effects. We compared AChE and BuChE – inhibition effect of total extracts and fractions of Huperzia serrata (Thunb.) Trevis. with alcaloid-rich extract. Our samples were subjected under supersonic extraction with ethanol 50o as solvent and fractionally extracted with n-hexane, EtOAc and n-butanol, respectively; alcaloid-rich extract was collected simutaneously. Ellman’s method was used to assay AChE and BuChE inhibition activity. Results: Alcaloid-rich extraction proved to be the superior AChE inhibiting agent, its activity nearly 6 fold of the most active Huperzia serrata extraction with IC50 value of 7.93 (5.43-10.98) µg/ml. 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Huperzia serrata is a precious medicinal plant used in medicine to support and treat Alzheimer's disease. Currently, this species is in danger of extinction due to indiscriminate exploitation for commercial purposes. Furthermore, this species reproduces slowly and is difficult to cultivate artificially. The reproduction by spores of this species is very long and takes 15−20 years from the spore germination to mature plant, whereas asexual reproduction by tissue culture is also difficult. Therefore, cutting is an effective method to propagate this species on a large scale. In this study, we surveyed the factors affecting the survival rate, the rooting and the number of new leaves of the stem cuttings, including cutting length, growing substrate, and effects of growth-regulating hormones IBA (0 ppm, 500 ppm, 1000 ppm, 2000 ppm and 3000 ppm) and α-NAA (0 ppm, 10 ppm, 20 ppm, 30 ppm and 40 ppm). The experimental results showed that using cuttings of 6 cm in length treated with IBA at a concentration of 1000 ppm for 30 mins and cultured on the substrate mixture of soil, decomposed animal manure and rice husk at a ratio of 3:1:1 was the best for cuttings of H. serrata in Sa Pa. The results of this study will contribute to the conservation and development of genetic source of H. serrata in Vietnam.

Huperzia serrata is a precious medicinal plant used in medicine to support and treat Alzheimer's disease. Currently, this species is in danger of extinction due to indiscriminate exploitation for commercial purposes. Furthermore, this species reproduces slowly and is difficult to cultivate artificially. The reproduction by spores of this species is very long and takes 15−20 years from the spore germination to mature plant, whereas asexual reproduction by tissue culture is also difficult. Therefore, cutting is an effective method to propagate this species on a large scale. In this study, we surveyed the factors affecting the survival rate, the rooting and the number of new leaves of the stem cuttings, including cutting length, growing substrate, and effects of growth-regulating hormones IBA (0 ppm, 500 ppm, 1000 ppm, 2000 ppm and 3000 ppm) and α-NAA (0 ppm, 10 ppm, 20 ppm, 30 ppm and 40 ppm). The experimental results showed that using cuttings of 6 cm in length treated with IBA at a concentration of 1000 ppm for 30 mins and cultured on the substrate mixture of soil, decomposed animal manure and rice husk at a ratio of 3:1:1 was the best for cuttings of H. serrata in Sa Pa. The results of this study will contribute to the conservation and development of genetic source of H. serrata in Vietnam.

AbstractAlzheimer’s disease (AD), which relates to nervous degeneration, is the most popular form of memory loss. The pathogenesis of AD is not fully understood, and there are no therapies for this disorder. Some drugs have been used in clinical applications for preventing and treating AD, but they have significant adverse reactions. Therefore, there is a need to develop treatment for AD. Traditional medicine has used many medicinal plants to alleviate the symptoms of AD. Medicinal plants may reduce neurodegenerative disorders with fewer side effects than chemical drugs, and they are promising drug candidates for AD therapy. This review is the summary of the pathogenesis and treatments of AD and includes information about the chemistry and bioactivities of some medicinal plants from the Huperzia species, such as Huperzia saururus, Huperzia selago, Huperzia phlegmaria, Huperzia fargesii, Huperzia serrata, Huperzia reflexa and Huperzia quadrifariata, that are used for the treatment of AD. We searched literature, including Medline, Embase, Google Scholar and PubMed database, and did a bibliographic review of relevant articles. Key words included Huperzia species, huperzine, huperin, Huperzia and Alzheimer’s disease. We found that the main bioactive compounds of the Huperzia species are alkaloids, which have shown significant effects on preventing the development of AD. They are new promising compounds against AD due to their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activities in the neural system. Our conclusion from this review is that the Huperzia species are potential source containing various pharmaceutical compounds for the treatment of AD.

Huperzia serrata (Thunb.) Trevis is widely used in traditional asiatic medicine to treat many central disorders including, schizophrenia, cognitive dysfunction, and dementia. The major alkaloid, Huperzine A (HA), of H. serrata is a well-known competitive reversible inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) with neuroprotective effects. Inspired by the tradition, we developed a green one-step method using microwave assisted extraction to generate an extract of H. serrata, called NSP01. This green extract conserves original neuropharmacological activity and chemical profile of traditional extract. The neuroprotective activity of NSP01 is based on a precise combination of three major constituents: HA and two phenolic acids, caffeic acid (CA) and ferulic acid (FA). We show that CA and FA potentiate HA-mediated neuroprotective activity. Importantly, the combination of HA with CA and FA does not potentiate the AChE inhibitory property of HA which is responsible for its adverse side effects. Collectively, these experimental findings demonstrated that NSP01, is a very promising plant extract for the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and memory deficits.

Abstract Huperzine A (HupA), a natural Lycopodium alkaloid derived from Huperzia serrata (Thunb. ex Murray) Trev. plants, is a highly active acetylcholinesterase inhibitor and a key compound used for treating Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recently, HupA has been reported in various endophytic fungi isolated from H. serrata. In the present study, 153 endophytic fungi were isolated from healthy tissues of H. serrata collected from natural populations in Lam Dong province of Central Vietnam. The endophytic fungi were identified based on morphological characteristics and Internal Transcribed Spacer sequences. Among them, 34 strains were classified into seven genera belonging to Ascomycota, including Alternaria, Fusarium, Trichoderma, Penicillium, Paecilomyces, and Phoma, and eight strains belonging to the genus Mucor (Zygomycota). The other strains remained unidentified. According to the results of thin-layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography, only one of the 153 strains, Penicillium sp. LDL4.4, could produce HupA, with a yield 1.38 mg l−1 (168.9 µg g−1 dried mycelium) when cultured in potato dextrose broth, which was considerably higher than that of other reported endophytic fungi. Such a fungus is a promising candidate and alternative to presently available HupA production techniques for treating AD and preventing further memory decline.

Huperzia serrata, a valuable pharmaceutical plant distributed in Lao Cai (Northwest Vietnam) and Lam Dong (Central Highlands of Vietnam), is known as pharmaceutical materials for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. As a result of over-exploitation and habitat fragmentation, H. serrata has become a threatened plant in Vietnam, China and other countries around the world. For the understanding of population dynamics, adaptation, evolution and conservation of plant species in general and H. serrata in particular, the evaluation of genetic diversity is very important. In this study, a total of sixteen RAPD primers were used for evaluation of the genetic diversity of eight H. serrata samples collected from different locations of Sa Pa and Da Lat. Overall, sixteen markers generated a total of 70 fragments in 8 collected samples of H. serrata. Of seventy generated fragments, 44 were found to be polymorphic. The number of fragments of each primer ranged from 1 to 8 with an average of 4,4 fragments per primer. The OPB20 primer revealed the highest polymorphism, while the OPB15, OPB17 and OPC12 primers gave the lowest. Polymorphism information content (PIC) values varied from 0.5266 to 0.8624 with an average of 0.7182, in which the highest value belonged to OPB11 primer while the OPC10 primer showed the lowest PIC value. The dendrogram created based on RAPD data sheet divided the investigated strain into two major groups corresponding to their habitat: Group I included three Da Lat samples (DL1, DL2, DL3) and Group II consisted of five samples from Sa Pa (SP1, Sp2, SP3, Sp4, and SP5). The results of our study could be useful for the conservation and development of H. serrata.