Neuroprotective Effect of Centella Asiatica Extract on Experimentally Induced Brain Ischemia in Aged Rats

Centella asiatica (CA), a well known Ayurvedic medicine, enriched with bioflavonoids is believed to have beneficial effects in improving learning and memory in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinsonism, multiple sclerosis and senile dementia. It also exerts a potent antioxidant-iron chelating and neuroprotective effects and enhances cognition in a variety of clinical condditions. Acute ischemia (AI) followed by reperfusion is known to bring about a major biochemical and behavioral alterations. In the present study the effect of Centella asiatica extract (CAE) on acute cerebral reperfusion (ACR) and long-term cerebral hypoperfusion (LTCH) in aged rats (Body wt 300g, 28-month old). was investigated. Transient brain ischemia (TBI) was induced under anaesthesia by clamping bilateral common carotid arteries (BCCAO) for 30 min and then reperfusion was allowed for 60 mins. The biomarkers of oxidative stress like malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), proinflammatory cytokines (PICKs), DNA content, 8-OHdG, nitric oxide synthase (NOS), poly(ADP-ribose polymerase)-1 and relevant biomarkers and behavioral and biochemical studies were estimated. In the present investigation, acute ischemia-reperfusion (AI-R) induced increases all the biomarkers of oxidative stress, PICKs, oxidative DNA-damage, DNA- repair enzymes such as NOS, PARP-1. CAE pre-administration (300 mg/kg body wt, p.o. for 7 days, CAE administration started 3-days prior to occlusion) ameliorated the reperfusion induced biochemical alterations in aged rats. Long-term cerebral hypoperfusion in rats caused a propensity towards anxiety and listlessness accompanied by deficits in learning and memory confirmed by related tests). Further, CAE treatment (200 mg/kg body wt, p.o. for 1 month) alleviated these behavioral, cognitive and biochemical alterations significantly. The results suggest that CAE enriched with bioflavonoids and tritripenoids may be useful in cerebrovascular insufficiency conditions associated with normal aging, hypertension and brain stroke.