ABSTRACT
Cerebral monoamine systems play important pathogenic roles in various psychiatric and neurologic diseases, such as depression, anxiety and swallowing disturbance. Hange-koboku-to, a Kampo (Japanese herbal) medicine, has been successfully used for the treatment of these disorders. To elucidate the mechanisms underlying its clinical efficacy for these disorders, the effects of Hange-koboku-to (500 mg/kg, p.o.) on the cerebral monoamine systems were examined. Regional levels of 5-HT (5-hydroxytryptamine), NA (noradrenaline), DA (dopamine) and their metabolites in mouse brain were measured using a high-performance liquid chromatography system. Hange-koboku-to increased the 5-HT and NA levels and decreased 5-HIAA (5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid), thus decreasing 5-HT and NA turnover (metabolites/monoamine ratio) in the hypothalamus. The levels of DA, DOPAC (3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid) and HVA (4-hydroxy-3-methoxy-phenylacetic acid) were all increased, resulting in a decreased DA turnover in the striatum. Since decreased 5-HT turnover has been observed after administration of various antidepressants, Hange-koboku-to-mediated reduction of 5-HT turnover may be related to the clinical efficacy of this Kampo medicine on certain psychiatric disorders. Furthermore, the beneficial therapeutic effects of Hange-koboku-to on swallowing disturbance may be related to the increased cerebral DA level brought about by this Kampo medicine.
Subject(s)
Anti-Anxiety Agents/pharmacology , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology , Medicine, Kampo , Phytotherapy , Telencephalon/drug effects , Administration, Oral , Animals , Anti-Anxiety Agents/administration & dosage , Anti-Anxiety Agents/therapeutic use , Dopamine/metabolism , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use , Male , Mice , Mice, Inbred C57BL , Norepinephrine/metabolism , Serotonin/metabolism , Telencephalon/metabolismABSTRACT
In Japan, neuropsychological assessment of dementing illnesses has been done mainly using Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and a revised version of Hasegawa Dementia Scale (HDS-R). However, because of a lack of appropriately designed test domains, early detection of senile dementia and/or cognitive impairment is hardly possible, even if using these batteries. This paper is to introduce a Japanese Version of RBANS (Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status) which was originally developed by Randolph and revised by us. The entire battery of Japanese Version RBANS took less than 30 minutes to administer, and yielded scaled scores for five cognitive domains such as immediate memory, visuospatial/constructional ability, language, attention, and delayed memory. On RBANS, abnormal cognitive decline in the older adult was much easily detected, being compared to MMSE and HDS-R: 52 normal volunteer subjects ranging from 24 to 80 years old showed a significant (p < 0.05 on t test) impairment of delayed and immediate memories due to ageing. The aged (60-79) subjects with average scores of MMSE and HDS-R being over 25, significantly showed impairment of both immediate memory (list and story learnings) and delayed memory (list, story and figure recalls). The present data suggest that the Japanese Version RBANS is useful for both detecting and characterizing early dementia, and should be widely utilized for a neuropsychological screening battery in the clinical practice throughout Japan.