JD-30, an active fraction extracted from Danggui-Shaoyao-San, decreases β-amyloid content and deposition, improves LTP reduction and prevents spatial cognition impairment in SAMP8 mice.

JD-30 is an active fraction extracted from Danggui-Shaoyao-San (DSS), a traditional Chinese medicinal prescription. We previously showed that JD-30 could alleviate cognitive dysfunction of the mice induced by intracerebroventricular injection of β-amyloid (Aβ). However, data remain scarce on the effect of JD-30 on an Alzheimer's disease (AD) model and the underlying mechanisms are unknown. Further detailed studies on the effects of JD-30 on spatial cognition of senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8), a suitable rodent model for cognitive impairment of aged subjects were investigated to elucidate the possible mechanisms. Long-term treatment with JD-30 significantly decreased the prolonged latency of SAMP8 in the Morris water-maze test. It also ameliorated the reduction of long-term potentiation (LTP) and reduced the damage of neurons in the hippocampus of SAMP8. Finally, JD-30 decreased the content and deposition of Aβ in the brain of SAMP8. The results show that JD-30 improves deterioration of spatial learning and memory in the SAMP8 mouse model, and by decreasing the content and deposition of Aβ, neuronal activity and synaptic plasticity improve, suggesting one of the mechanisms involved.