Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Neurosciences, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Jalan Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150, Kubang Kerian, Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia
  • 2 Centre for Drug Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia
  • 3 Institute of Marine Biotechnology, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia
  • 4 Atta-ur-Rahman Institute for Natural Product Discovery, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Puncak Alam Campus, 42300, Bandar Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
J Integr Neurosci, 2020 Jun 30;19(2):217-227.
PMID: 32706186 DOI: 10.31083/j.jin.2020.02.50

Abstract

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.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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