Centella asiatica is notable for its wide range of biological activities beneficial to human health, particularly its cognitive enhancement and neuroprotective effects. The α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptors are ionotropic glutamate receptors mediating fast excitatory neurotransmission essential in long-term potentiation widely thought to be the cellular mechanism of learning and memory. The method of whole-cell patch-clamp was used to study the effect of the acute application of Centella asiatica extract on the α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor-mediated spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents in the entorhinal cortex of rat brain slices. The respective low dose of test compounds significantly increased the amplitude of spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents while having no significant effects on the frequency. The findings suggested that Centella asiatica extract increased the response of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptors at the postsynaptic level, revealing the potential role of Centella asiatica in modulating the glutamatergic responses in the entorhinal cortex of rat brain slices to produce cognitive enhancement effects.
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Acute application of Centella asiatica extract enhanced AMPAR-mediated postsynaptic currents in rat entorhinal cortex
Jia Hui Wong1,2, Faruque Reza1,2, Sangu Muthuraju1,2,3, Huei Gau Chuang1,2, Jingli Zhang1, Mohd Harizal Senik1,2, Siti Rafidah Yusof4, Habsah Mohamad5, Tengku Sifzizul Tengku Muhammad5, Nor Hadiani Ismail6, Jafri Malin Abdullah1,2,*
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1
Department of Neurosciences, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Jalan Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150, Kubang Kerian, Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia
2
Brain & Behaviour Cluster and Department of Neurosciences, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Health Campus, Jalan Raja Perempuan Zainab 2, 16150, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia
3
Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Houston, Houston, 77240, USA
4
Centre for Drug Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia
5
Institute of Marine Biotechnology, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia
6
Atta-ur-Rahman Institute for Natural Product Discovery, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Puncak Alam Campus, 42300, Bandar Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
*Correspondence: brainsciences@gmail.com (Jafri Malin Abdullah)
J. Integr. Neurosci. 2020, 19(2), 217–227;
https://doi.org/10.31083/j.jin.2020.02.50
Submitted: 25 February 2020 | Revised: 1 June 2020 | Accepted: 12 June 2020 | Published: 30 June 2020
Copyright: © 2020 Wong et al. Published by IMR press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Abstract
Keywords
Centella asiatica
asiatic acid
asiaticoside
whole-cell patch-clamp
AMPAR
entorhinal cortex
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Figure 1.