JP2001039887A - Prophylactic/therapeutic preparation for dementia and prophylactic/therapeutic method for dementia using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a crude drug having slight side effect on human health as a therapeutic/prophylactic agent for intractable dementia. SOLUTION: This crude drug to be used in preventing/treating dementia is Astragali radix as a crude drug or an extract thereof or active compounds contained in the extract. This crude drug is used in the form of an extract. The above-compounds include ones having the action to improve brain functions. The extract can be obtained using an appropriate extraction solvent such as ethanol by means of water bath or chromatography.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to the prevention and treatment of dementia, which has been difficult to prevent and treat so far, and an epoch-making prophylactic / therapeutic preparation capable of sufficiently preventing and treating dementia and the preparation. And a method for preventing or treating dementia using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Dementia generally occurs with aging, but is also caused as a sequelae by drugs. A representative example of drug-induced dementia is long-term administration of dopa, which is used as a therapeutic drug for Parkinson's disease. That is, Parkinson's disease is an extrapyramidal degenerative disease that often develops after middle age. Clinically, it is characterized by immobility, muscle rigidity, tremor at rest, abnormal posture reflex, and autonomic nervous symptoms. L-dopa, which is known as a therapeutic agent, causes dementia due to long-term use.

[0003]

Since there has been no effective therapeutic or ameliorating agent for dementia so far, it has been desired to develop an epoch-making preparation which can be used for its sufficient prevention and treatment. It has been desired to develop a preparation that can be used for preventing or treating the occurrence of sequelae of dementia induced by dopa, which is widely used.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems The inventors of the present invention have conducted intensive studies mainly on Chinese herbal medicines. As a result, the extracts from Astragalus and Astragalus as herbal medicines are useful for the prevention and treatment of dementia. The present invention was first clarified to be effective, and in particular, it was found that Astragali and Shinki extract are effective for prevention and treatment of dopa-induced dementia, and completed the invention.

[0005] That is, the invention of claim 1 is a preparation for the prevention and treatment of dementia, comprising at least one of astragalus or radix as a crude drug (including compounds having an activity contained in each extract). About. The invention of claim 2 relates to the preventive / therapeutic preparation for dementia according to claim 1, wherein the dementia is dopa-induced dementia. Furthermore, the invention of claim 3 relates to the preparation for prevention / treatment of dementia according to claim 1, wherein the preparation for prevention / treatment of dementia is a health food.

Further, the invention of claim 4 relates to the preparation for preventing and treating dementia according to claim 1, wherein the preparation for preventing and treating dementia is a pharmaceutical. Further, the invention of claim 5 provides a dementia using a preparation for the prevention and treatment of dementia, which comprises at least one of astragalus or radix as a crude drug extract (including compounds having an activity contained in each extract). The present invention relates to a method for preventing or treating the disease.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The specific contents of the present invention will be described below. The present invention has an Astragalus or Shinki extract as a crude drug and an activity contained in these extracts for the prevention and treatment of dementia. It is characterized by using a compound. In addition, Kioki or Shinoki here,
Each of them means a herbal medicine in the field of Chinese medicine, and Asagi or Shinoki is used in the form of an extract.

[0008] The extract of Astragalus or Astragalus referred to herein also includes active compounds contained in these extracts. Furthermore, some of the above-mentioned drugs used for the prevention or treatment of dementia have an effect of improving brain function. Extraction from Astragalus or Astragalus as a crude drug can be carried out using an appropriate extraction solvent, but hot water roasting, ethanol extraction, chromatography and the like can be used.

In this case, the extract can be more efficiently extracted by changing the salt concentration or pH of the extract. In this case, screening for activity is carried out with an appropriate evaluation system that can detect the anti-dementia effect using Astragalus extract or Astragalus extract, and this activity is used as an index to fractionate Astragalus extract or Astragalus extract by chromatography etc. By doing so, the active compound can be separated and purified.

The preventive / therapeutic preparations for dementia of the present invention include:
It is used for pharmaceuticals or health foods, and administration routes include drinks, tablets, capsules, granules,
Examples include oral administration with powders and syrups, parenteral administration with suppositories and the like, intravenous and subcutaneous administration with injections, and transdermal administration with ointments. Tablets and the like can also be formed using commonly used excipients, binders, disintegrants and wetting agents. Further, an appropriate coating can be applied to these.

The above liquid preparations such as syrups can be prepared using commonly used emulsifiers such as lecithin, suspending agents such as methylcellulose, and preservatives. Further, the dosage of the preparation varies depending on the form of administration, the condition and age of the patient, the sex, the body weight, and the compound to be used.
50 g can be administered in 1 to 3 divided doses. More preferably, 0.1 mg to 5 g can be administered in 1 to 3 divided doses. Regarding the dosage of these extracts, even if the amount of the extract is very small as long as the administration period is relatively long, the effect can be seen.

[Example 1] Evaluation of anti-dementia action of Astragalus and Astragalus extracts Preparation of Astragalus and Astragalus extract 100 g of Astragalus or Astragalus 100 g in a flask,
Distilled water was added to this. This was heated and boiled for 60 minutes, and then left at room temperature for 2 hours. After standing, the supernatant was separated by filtration and centrifugation, and the supernatant was freeze-dried to prepare 21 g of Astragalus extract and 20 g of Astragalus extract, which were used for evaluation of the anti-dementia effect.

Preparation of Dopa-induced Dementia Mice A single oral administration (100-1000 mg / k) of L-dopa (Sigma) to C57BL / 6 mice (male, 8 weeks old)
g) was performed. Next, astragalus extract (1 g / kg /
day) or Shinoki extract (1 g / kg / day) was freely taken for 14 days from 24 hours after the administration of L-dopa, and used for evaluation by a step-through passive avoidance experiment apparatus.

Evaluation by a step-through passive avoidance experiment device A bright room (20 × 10 × 12 cm) irradiated with white light and a dark room (30 × 30 × 30 cm) fitted with a metal grid capable of applying an electric shock to the floor ), And the anti-dementia effect was evaluated using a step-through type passive avoidance experiment device partitioned by a movable guillotine door between the light room and the dark room.

The mouse prepared as described above was put into the apparatus for about 1 minute in a state where the mouse could freely enter and exit the bright room and the dark room, and was used to the apparatus. Next, the guillotine door was closed, the mouse was put in the light room, and after 30 seconds, the guillotine door was opened again. When the mouse had completely moved the extremities to the dark room, the guillotine door was closed, and an electric shock of 3 mA for 5 seconds was applied. .
Twenty-four hours later, the mouse was placed in a bright room of the step-through type passive avoidance experiment device with the guillotine door opened, and it was observed whether or not the mouse moved to a dark room.

[0016] The group administered with the Astragalus extract or the Astragalus extract is
While all mice did not move to the darkroom,
Since all mice in the control group moved to the dark room, mice with administration of Astragalus extract and Aspergillus extract showed improvement in learning disability. Therefore, Astragalus and Astragalus were extremely effective in preventing and treating dementia. It became clear that it was.

In the above embodiment, the case of dopa-induced dementia is described as an example of the evaluation of a preventive / therapeutic agent for dementia, but the evaluation of the drug is not limited to this evaluation system. As a method for evaluating dementia, there is a step-through test for evaluating learning ability, in addition to the above-described embodiment.

[0018]

As described in detail above, the present invention contains at least one of astragalus or radix as a crude drug (including compounds having an activity contained in each extract). It has an epoch-making effect as a prophylactic / therapeutic preparation for the prevention and treatment of dementia and a method for the prevention and treatment of dementia. In addition, the present invention can be used in combination with not only single administration of these crude drugs but also various dementia ameliorating agents known or produced in the future.

The desirable dosage form of the compound of the present invention is oral administration. In addition, the compound can be administered in various dosage forms, and the compound can be absorbed and its stability in a living body. The administration form can be appropriately selected by considering the above.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A preparation for the prevention and treatment of dementia, comprising at least one of astragalus or radix as a crude drug extract (including compounds having an activity contained in each extract). 2. The preventive / therapeutic preparation for dementia according to claim 1, wherein the dementia is dopa-induced dementia. 3. The preparation for preventing or treating dementia according to claim 1, wherein the preparation for preventing or treating dementia is a health food. 4. The preparation for preventing or treating dementia according to claim 1, wherein the preparation for preventing or treating dementia is a pharmaceutical. 5. A method for preventing or treating dementia using a preparation for the prevention and treatment of dementia comprising at least one of the astragalus or radix extracts as active crude drugs (including compounds having an activity contained in each extract). Method of treatment.