还是古人有智慧！科学家发现多吃姜对老年痴呆有好处

　　老年人认知功能退化治疗新突破：姜黄素可激活nNOS/NO信号通路，增加脑部血流提高记忆
　　【文献解读】
　　2013年5月，山东大学的研究团队在期刊《Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry》发表文章探讨姜黄素对老龄小鼠记忆减退的影响，重点探讨神经元型一氧化氮合酶(nNOS)/一氧化氮(NO)通路在姜黄素改善记忆作用中的可能作用。研究结果表明姜黄素改善老年小鼠记忆障碍的作用部分是通过激活特定脑区的nNOS活性来实现的。
　　试验中小鼠被随机分为4组：赋形剂组、姜黄素组、7-硝基吲唑+姜黄素组和7-硝基吲唑组。每组12只，每日1次腹腔注射，连续21天。后进行新的物体识别任务，对小鼠进行了非空间短期记忆测试。然后用增强化学发光检测方法制备印迹，并用amersham HyperFilm ECL显示信号，分别对每只小鼠的大脑区域进行分析。结果显示，在新的物体识别任务中姜黄素处理的小鼠与赋形剂处理组相比，对新物体的探索次数显著增加，表明姜黄素改善了这些衰老小鼠的学习和记忆障碍。姜黄素治疗后大鼠前额叶核、杏仁核和海马中nNOS的表达明显高于赋形剂组。
　　注：姜黄素的作用
　　目前，关于衰老对认知衰退产生影响的神经机制的信息很少，这种信息的缺乏严重阻碍了更有效的治疗策略的确定和发展。本试验结果证明了姜黄素通过激活nNOS/NO信号通路，对衰老相关的记忆障碍有有效的保护作用。揭示了姜黄素通过操纵nNOS/NO信号通路作为一种新的改善记忆的药物的治疗潜力。这些发现对老年人认知功能退化的管理具有重要意义。
　　【文献节选】
　　A number of neuroprotective effects of curcumin have been demonstrated in recent years. However, whether curcumin exerts any beneficial effects on age-related impaired cognition and memory has not been well characterized; nor was there any detailed data on the molecular pathways activated by curcumin. The present study attempts to investigate the effects of curcumin on memory decline of aged mice with a focus upon the possible contribution of the neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS)/nitric oxide (NO) pathway in the memory amelioration effect of curcumin. The results showed that chronic administration of curcumin (50 mg/kg, i.p., 21 days) significantly ameliorated the memory acquisition ability of aged male mice in the novel object recognition and passive avoidance tasks. Immunoblotting revealed that chronic treatment of curcumin increased nNOS expression in the prefrontal cortex, amygdala and hippocampus, as well as the enhancement of nNOS activity and NO concentration. This enhancement was suppressed by pre-treatment with 7-nitroindazole (7-NI), a specific inhibitor of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS). Furthermore, inhibition of nNOS synthase by 7-NI also prevented the memory improvement effects of curcumin in aged mice. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that the amelioration of memory deficits by curcumin in aged mice was mediated, at least in part, by activating the nNOS activity in specific brain regions. These findings reveal the therapeutic potential of curcumin as a preventive agent upon the deterioration of cognitive faculties.