Ashwagandha
Ayurveda is one of the oldest medical traditions practiced in India, Sri Lanka and other South Asian countries and has a solid philosophical and experiential base. Ayurveda has different formulations for managing stress and physical and mental condition.
In Ayurveda, Ashwagandha has been used as an adaptogen, an anti-stress tonic and for the treatment of general debility.
In experimental models such as the test of resistance to forced swimming in rats, it showed increased resistance and preventing variations of ascorbic acid and cortisol in the adrenal gland following the induced stress. In models of neurodegenerative pathologies such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease in which the principle functional impairment is due to the interruption of the neural network and the premature death of the neurons, the Ashwagandha extract showed a good therapeutic potential leading to the formation of dendrites and induction of sleep and relaxation with action similar to GABA.
The brain is very sensitive to stress: even slight and uncontrollable stress can cause a rapid and dramatic loss of cognitive abilities. Oxidative stress contributes to a wide range of brain disorders and dementia including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease. Ashwagandha extracts have an enormous capacity to protect neuronal cells from different types of stress factors that alter brain function leading to memory disorders, cognition, and predisposing to stroke and neurodegenerative diseases.
Several studies have been done.
One of these is that realized by Choudhary D. et al., in which 56 individuals between 18 and 60 years old were chronically affected. The individuals of this study group received 300 mg standard Ashwagandha root extract twice a day for eight weeks; those individuals in the control group received placebo capsules twice a day. At the beginning and end of the study these individuals were submitted to clinical examinations and stress assessment questionnaires. Another similar study, which lasts 60 days, with the same active substance dosage, was realized , who recruited 64 adults with a chronic stress background.
A group of authors, also realized a review in 2014, mentioning 5 studies which have the aim to test the efficacy of Ayurvedic plant on chronic stress. Bhattacharya SK et al experienced the effects of Ashwagandha on rats exposed to chronic stress. The effects were compared to those obtained by synthesis ansiolitics intaking. At the end of each study, the level of cortisol in blood was reduced, stress resistance increased and general well-being improved with resulting eating behavior improvement, body weight and BMI reduction.
Bacopa
In vivo studies, chronic administration of Bacopa inhibited lipid peroxidation in the prefrontal regions of the cortex, striatum and hippocampus of the brain, through a mechanism of action similar to vitamin E. In rodent astrocytes, treatment with Bacopa resulted in a significant reduction in damage caused by high concentrations of nitric oxide. Furthermore, several studies have suggested that the bioactive components of Bacopa protect the brain from oxidative damage and age-related cognitive decline with different modes of action and cause memory increase. The improvement in cognitive action has been attributed to the increase in free radical scavenging activity by bacosides.
The antioxidant action is also related to the neuroprotective and memory-enhancing effects, Bacopa is able to decrease the formation of peroxides and control oxidative stress at the level of neurons. Thomas et al. showed that bacosides A and B exert neuroprotective action by restoring the dopamine D1 receptor, abundant in the central nervous system, with the function of stimulating adenylate cyclase and indirectly activating protein kinase A, stimulating the neuron and regulating growth and neuronal development and some behavioral responses.
Bacopa monnieri could be useful in age-related neuro-degeneration, including Parkinson’s, maintaining redox homeostasis and mitochondrial activities. Anbarasi et al evaluated the neuroprotective role of bacoside A against oxidative stress in the brain of rats subjected to cigarette smoke, showing a significant increase in brain levels of glutathione, vitamin C, vitamin E and vitamin A in addition to increased activity of antioxidant enzymes such as SOD, catalase, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reductase (GSR).
In other studies it was observed in animal models in which neurotoxicity was induced by colchicine and ibotenic acid, a dose-related inversion of cognitive deficit. Acrolein is a highly reactive compound formed as a by-product of lipid peroxidation. It is not only a marker of lipid peroxidation, but also serves as an initiator of oxidative stress. The brains of Alzheimer’s patients show significantly higher levels of acrolein in the hippocampus. The neuroprotective effect of the standardized extracts of B. monnieri against acrolein-induced toxicity was studied by Singh et al on human neuroblastoma cell lines.
