Effect of Centella asiatica on cognitive deficits caused in trimethyltin-induced neurotoxicity model mice

Abstract

Centella asiatica (L.) Urb. is a nootropic that has been used medicinally for centuries. The present study investigates the anti-dementia effect of an n-butanol extract of Centella asiatica in a mouse model of neurodegeneration caused by trimethyltin (TMT). Mice were administered Centella asiatica extract (150 and 540 mg/kg) or a reference drug, tacrine (2.1 mg/kg), daily for one week before TMT injection and during tests to analyse spatial short-term and spatial working memory. The treatment of mice with TMT caused deficits in short-term spatial working memory and decreased the number of pyramidal cells in the hippocampal CA1 and CA3 regions elucidated by Nissl staining at 28 d post-TMT treatment. The administration of Centella asiatica extract or tacrine significantly attenuated the behavioural and histochemical changes caused by TMT. These results suggest that Centella asiatica extract improved memory deficits partly by protecting hippocampal neurons from TMT-induced damage.