White Ginseng Protects Mouse Hippocampal Cells Against Amyloid-Beta Oligomer Toxicity

Amyloid-beta oligomer (AβO) is a soluble oligomer form of the Aβ peptide and the most potent amyloid-beta form that induces neuronal damage in Alzheimer's disease. We investigated the effect of dried white ginseng extract (WGE) on neuronal cell damage and memory impairment in intrahippocampal AβO (10 μM)-injected mice. Mice were treated with WGE (100 and 500 mg/kg/day, p.o.) for 12 days after surgery. WGE improved memory impairment by inhibiting hippocampal cell death caused by AβO. In addition, AβO-injected mice treated with WGE showed restoration of reduced synaptophysin and choline acetyltransferase intensity and lower levels of ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule 1 in the hippocampus compared with those of vehicle-treated controls. These results suggest that WGE reverses memory impairment in Alzheimer's disease by attenuating neuronal damage and neuroinflammation in the AβO-injected mouse hippocampus. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.