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Original Article

Exp Neurobiol 2015; 24(1): 71-83

Published online March 31, 2015

https://doi.org/10.5607/en.2015.24.1.71

© The Korean Society for Brain and Neural Sciences

Long-term Treatment with Oriental Medicinal Herb Artemisia princeps Alters Neuroplasticity in a Rat Model of Ovarian Hormone Deficiency

Hyun-Bum Kim1, Byeong-Jae Kwon1, Hyun-Ji Cho2, Ji-Won Kim2, Jeong-Woo Chon2, Moon-Ho Do4, Sang-Yong Park5, Sun-Yeou Kim4, Sung-Ho Maeng3, Yoo-Kyoung Park2,6 and Ji-Ho Park3,6*

Departments of 1East-West Medical Science, 2Medical Nutrition, 3East-West Medicine, Graduate School of East-West Medical Science, Kyung Hee University, Yongin 446-701, 4College of Pharmacy, Gachon University, Incheon 406-799, 5Department of Oriental Medicinal Materials and Processing, College of Life Science, 6Research Institute of Medical Nutrition, Kyung Hee University, Yongin 446-701, Korea

Correspondence to: *To whom correspondence should be addressed.
TEL: 82-31-201-2180, FAX: 82-31-202-7619
e-mail: jihopark@khu.ac.kr

Received: November 14, 2014; Revised: January 30, 2015; Accepted: February 2, 2015

Abstract

Artemisia princeps (AP) is a flowering perennial used as a traditional medicine and dietary supplement across East Asia. No study has yet assessed its effects on synaptic plasticity in hippocampus and much less in a model of ovarian hormone deficiency. We examined the influence of chronic oral AP ethanol extract treatment in ovariectomized rats on the induction of long-term depression in a representative synapse (CA3-CA1) of the hippocampus. Ovariectomized rats demonstrated lower trabecular mean bone mineral densities than sham, validating the establishment of pathology. Against this background of pathology, AP-treated ovariectomized rats exhibited attenuated long-term depression (LTD) in CA1 relative to water-treated controls as measured by increased field excitatory post-synaptic potentials (fEPSP) activation averages over the post-stimulation period. While pathological significance of long-term depression (LTD) in ovariectomized rats is conflicting, that AP treatment significantly affected its induction offers justification for further study of its influences on plasticity and its related disorders.

Keywords: Artemisia princeps, Oriental medicine, ovariectomy, long-term depression (LTD), hippocampal synaptic plasticity