小檗碱对老年痴呆早期防治的研究

目的为研究小檗碱对老年痴呆临床前期人群的防治意义及机制。方法采用系列〔痴呆简易筛查量表(BSSD)、视觉保持试验(VRT)、数字广度测验(DS)等〕效度良好的神经心理学量表,评定了阿尔茨海默病(AD)轻异组(30例)和脑血管性痴呆(VD)轻异组(24例)小檗碱干预前后的认知功能,并应用放射免疫(RIA)法测定了血清肿瘤坏死因子(TNF-α)和酶联免疫吸附测定法(ELISA)检测了全血细胞凋亡抑制基因(Bcl-2)的表达。结果服用小檗碱1疗程后,AD和VD轻异组BSSD等量表评定成绩提高,与治疗前比较具有非常显著差异(PAD＜0.02、PVD＜0.01),治疗前AD和VD轻异组血清TNFα和全血Bcl-2基因的表达均高于老年健康对照组(P＜0.01),经治疗后,血清TNF-α含量下降和全血Bcl-2上调。结论提示小檗碱可改善痴呆高危人群认知功能,可能与血清TNFα水平下降和全血Bcl-2基因表达上调有关。对慢性脑病变神经细胞起保护作用。

A study of berberin inpreventing and treating preclinical dementia in the aged

Objective To stud y the action mechanism and significance of berberin in preclinical dementia in t he aged． Methods A group of neuropsychological rating scales,i．e．bri ef s creening scale for dementia（BSSD）,Benton visual retention test （VRT）and digit sp an（DS）,with better reliability and valid ity were applied to evaluate the change of cognitive function in 30 cases of the preclinical Alzheimer’s disease（BSSD≥22 ～29 points called as PAD group）and 24 ca ses of the preclinical of vascular demen tial（BSSD≥22～29 points called as PVD gro up)before an d after the administration of berberin．W e used a number of rating scales above,s imulta neously serum tumor necrosis factor-α（TN F-α）and whole blood B cell lymphoma／leuk emia-2（Bcl-2）were measured by radioimmu noassay（RIA）and ELISA respectively． Results The cognitive functi on was greatly improved,with the score o f BSSD and other tests in PAD and PVD si gnifi cantly higher than those before the admi nistration of berberin（PAD＜0．02,P VD ＜0．01）．The whole blood Bcl-2 and the le vels of TNF-α in PAD and PVD were all si g nificantly higher than those in healthy and elderly control group before adminis tration．While after treatment Bcl-2 gene t ic expression was up-regulated and the l evel of serum TNF-α was declined． Conclusions All these findings sug gest that improving effect of berberin o n cognitive function in high risking peo ple of aged dementia may be related with whole blood Bcl-2 gene’s higher express ion and declining level of serum TNF-α w hich may protect the neurocytes of chron ic cerebropathy．