• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
• /
• v.50 no.4
• /
• pp.253-259
• /
• 2019

Chaenomeles speciose Nakai (CSP) or Chaenomeles sinensis Koehne (CSS) (Rosaceae) has been used, traditionally, to treat muscle problems and gastric dampness in eastern Asia countries. Therefore, many studies have focused on investigating its active compounds and effects on muscle pain, arthritis and gastro-intestinal diseases. Recently, several studies reported that CSS extract degrade amyloid plaques and enhance synaptic acetylcholine level in vivo and in vitro. Although these two Chaenomeles species are used without differences, CSP is reported to contains more phenolic compounds which are known to enhance memory. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the memory ameliorating effects of CSP by employing the passive avoidance test, Y-maze task and novel object recognition test. CSP (30 or 100 mg/kg) ameliorated the declined memory induced by scopolamine injection and enhanced the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels along with post synaptic density protein 95 (PSD 95) levels at the hippocampus of the scopolamine-injected mouse brain. These results suggested that CSP alleviates the cognition declines caused by cholinergic blockade via enhancing BDNF levels and PSD 95, and that it would enhance memory formation and be useful for treating memory declines.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.8-17
• /
• 2004

Antifungal, antibacterial, and antioxidative activities of ethanol extracts from 65 families 263 species were investigated to select tree species for the utilization of natural fungicide or preservative resources. The antifungal activities of extracts from wood, leaf and bark were measured as hyphal growth inhibition rate using four plant pathogenic and five wood rotting fungi. High inhibitory effect on the fungi growth was found in five species of Pinaceae (Pinus koraiensis, P. rigida, P. densiflora, P. banksiana. Cedrus deodara), three species of Cupressaceae (Juniperus rigida, J. chinensis, Chamaecyparis obtusa) and three species of Leguminosae (Albizzia julibrisssin, Sophora japonica, Maackia amurensis), respectively. Antibacterial activities of ethanol extracts were determined by means of disc-agar plate diffusion method using three gram-positive and five gram-negative bacteria. The ethanol extracts, which showed prominent effect on the suppression of bacteria growth, were six species of Betulaceae (Carpinus tschonoskii, C. coreana, C. laxiflora, Alnus hirsuta, A. firma, Betula schmidtii), five species of Fagaceae (Castanopsis cuspidata var. sieboldii, Quercus serrata, Q. mongolica, Q aliena, C crenata), four species of Euphorbiaceae (Aleurites fordii, Sapium sebiferum, S japonicum Mallotus japonicus) and three species of Elaeagnaceae (Elaeagnus umbellata, Elaeagnus glanbra, Elaeagnus macrophylla). According to these results, the extracts from Zelkova serrata, Pinus densiflora, Maackia amurensis, Chamaecyparis obtusa and Juniperus chinensis could be available for natural fungicide or food preservatives, because ethanol extracts from these species indicated excellent antifungal and antibacterial activities. In order to test antioxidative activities of ethanol extracts, free radical scavenging method was adopted with 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrohydrazyl (DPPH). Free radical scavenging activity was proved very high in the extracts of eight species of Rosaceae (Eriobotrya japonica, Prunus takesimensis, P yedoensis, P padus, P armeniaca var. ansu, Chaenomeles sinensis, Stephanandra incisa, Rosa multiflora) and five species of Ericaceae (Rhododenron mucronulatum, R. scblippenbacbii, R. yedoense var. poukhanense, Vaccinium bracteatum, V oldbami), resvectively. It turned out from this study that only six species among 48 species of Rosaceae showed less than 80% free radical scavenging activity. As a consequences, it could be deduced that the components effective on antioxidative activity commonly exist in Rosaceae plant family.