Traditional Chinese Herbs Offer New Hope for Dementia Treatment

Traditional herbal remedies, including jujube seeds, show promise in restoring cognitive function and preventing dementia in mice models.

While much attention is currently focused on the search for a breakthrough dementia drug, traditional medicines may offer important clues for prevention ().

A research team led by specially appointed Professor Takami Tomiyama at Osaka Metropolitan University’s Graduate School of Medicine has discovered that administering model mice with dried seeds from a variety of jujube, Ziziphus jujuba Miller var. spinosa, which is used as a medicinal herb in traditional Chinese medicine, shows potential in improving cognitive and motor functions.

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Restoration of Cognitive and Motor Functions in Alzheimer's and Other Dementia Models

By administering hot water extracts of Zizyphi spinosi semen to model mice with Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia with Lewy bodies, the team found that cognitive and motor functions were restored.

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Powdered Seed Treatment Reverses Cognitive Decline

Furthermore, when the seeds were simply crushed into powder and administered to the model mice, the team discovered that the cognitive function of the model mice recovered to a level above that of the control mice. In addition, the powders suppressed cellular aging in older mice and improved their cognitive function to a similar level as younger mice.

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Past Studies with Mamaki and Acorus Gramineus

Previously, members of the research team reported separately that the pathology of dementia in model mice improved with cognitive and motor functions restored after using the Hawaiian herb mamaki and the Chinese herb Acorus gramineus.

“The results of our research will hopefully make it possible to develop dementia prevention products that middle-aged and elderly people can take at their own discretion,” Professor Tomiyama suggested.

The findings are currently available as a reviewed preprint in eLife.

Reference:

Simply crushed Zizyphi spinosi semen prevents neurodegenerative diseases and reverses age-related cognitive decline in mice - (https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/100737v1)

Source-Eurekalert