The extract of Alpinia katsumadai, a member of the family Zingiberaceae, shows anti-inflammatory effects and
antioxidant activity. We observed the
neuroprotective effects of the extract from Alpinia katsumadai seed (EAKS) against ischemic damage in gerbils administered oral EAKS (25, and 50 mg/kg) once a day for 7 days before
transient cerebral ischemia. In the 50 mg/kg EAKS-treated
ischemia group, about 67% of neurons in the hippocampal CA1 region (CA1) survived after
ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) based on
cresyl violet staining. We observed that EAKS treatment significantly maintained
brain-derived neurotrophic factor (
BDNF) immunoreactivity in the ischemic CA1 region after I/R. In addition,
protein levels of
BDNF in the 50 mg/kg EAKS-treated
ischemia group were much higher than those in the vehicle-treated
ischemia group after I/R. These findings indicate that repeated supplementation of EAKS protects neurons from ischemic damage, such that
BDNF is distinctively maintained in ischemic areas.