. 2024 Feb 15;15:1341074. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1341074

TABLE 5.

Pharmacological action of herbs with high frequency of use and significant associations.

Herb name in Pin yin ^a	Plant names ^b	Preparation	Chemical composition	Subject	Pharmacological effects	Mechanisms of action	References
Ren shen	Panax ginseng C.A.Mey	Compound	Ginsenoside Rg1	AD mice (transgenic mice, aged mice, ovariectomy plus intracranial injections of D-galactose, hippocampus injury, chronic stress, ovariectomy, injection of okamoto acid, quinolinic acid, the Aβ1-42 and Aβ25-35, dexamethasone, D-galactose, scopolamine)	Antioxidant	SOD ↑, GSH-PX ↑	Liang et al. (2021)
					Antioxidant	ROS ↓, MDA ↓
					Anti-inflammatory	TNF-α ↓, IL-1β ↓, IL-6 ↓, IL-18 ↓, caspase 1 ↓, caspase 5 ↓
					Upregulation of nerve cells	NSC senescence ↓, cell apoptosis ↓, NSC number ↑, new nerve cells ↑
					Synapse protection	Ach ↑, BDNF ↑, multiple synaptic proteins ↑
					Amelioration of AD-related pathology	APP ↓, Tau ↓, Aβ ↓
		Compound	Ginsenoside Rg2	Vascular dementia rat model	Anti-apoptosis	pro-apoptotic factors BAX and P53 ↓	Zhang et al. (2008)
		Compound	Ginsenoside Rg2	Vascular dementia rat model	Anti-apoptosis	anti-apoptotic BCL-2 and HSP70 ↑	Zhang et al. (2008)
		Panax ginseng extract in concentrated form	Ginsenoside (G)-Rb1, G-Rb2, G-Rc, G-Rd, G-Re, G-Rf, G-Rg1, G-Rg2, G-Rg3	Vascular dementia rat model	Anti-apoptosis	neuronal density ↑, VEGF and bFGF protein expression ↑, number of glial fibrillary acidic protein-immunoreactive cells ↓, BCl-2 ↑, BAX protein ↓	Zhu et al. (2018)
		Panax ginseng extract in concentrated form		Vascular dementia rat model	Neuroprotective effect		Zhu et al. (2018)
		Compound	Ginsenoside Rh1	Sleep deprivation-induced mouse memory impairment model	Nootropic effects	Regulating oxidative stress levels in the cortex and hippocampus	Lu et al. (2017)
		Compound	Ginsenoside Rh1	Sleep deprivation-induced mouse memory impairment model	Prevent sleep deprivation-induced memory impairment		Lu et al. (2017)
		Compound	Ginsenoside Rh2	Sleep deprivation-induced cognitive deficit mice	Reverse spatial and non-spatial memory impairments induced by sleep deprivation	Attenuating oxidative stress	Lu et al. (2018)
		Compound	Ginsenoside Rg1	Rat model	Sleep-promoting (prolong sleep time and degrades sustainability of wakefulness)	Modulating the noradrenergic system in the locus coeruleus and serotonergic system in the dorsal raphe nucleus	Xu et al. (2019)
		Compound	Ginsenoside Rg5, Ginsenoside Rk1	Rodent model	Sedative and hypnotic effects	Mediating the GABA/serotonin/glutamate nervous system	Shao et al. (2020)
Shi chang pu	Acorus calamus var. angustatus Besser (synonyms: Acorus tatarinowii Schott, Acorus gramineus var. Crassispadix Lingelsh.)	Extract (water)/Extract (acetate)/Defatted decoction	α-asarone ß-asarone essential oil	Cognitive impairment mouse/rat models (cognitive impairment models were induced by lead, noise stress, LPS, Aβ1-42, D-gal plus AlCl3, scopolamine, ethanol, sodium nitrite, corticosterone, Ibotenic acid, chronic restraint stress, pentobarbital sodium, D-galactose, AlCl3, streptozotocin, pent ylenetet razol, NaNO2)	Anti-apoptosis	SOD ↑, CAT ↑, GSH-PX ↑, MDA ↓, HIF-1 ↓	Li et al. (2020)
					Stimulating cholinergic system	AChE ↓, Ach ↑
					Anti-apoptosis	BCL-2↑, BAX ↓, caspase 3 ↓, JNK ↓
					Anti-inflammatory	TNF-α ↓, IL-1β ↓
					Anti-neurotoxicity	APP ↓, Tau ↓
					Anti-cytotoxicity	NOS ↓, NO ↓
					Regulating synaptic plasticity	Dendritic spine density ↑, Synaptic loss ↓
		Extract (ethanol: water (1:1))	asarone	AD mice (scopolamine-induced AD)	Activating the cholinergic system	AChE ↓, GSH ↑, SOD ↑, Nitrite level ↓	Malik et al. (2023)
					Antioxidant
					Neuroprotective effect
		Compound	β-asarone	In vitro (Aβ1-42 induced PC12 cell model of AD)	Protective effects against AD (the formation and damage of Aβ1-42)	Promote autophagy	Wang et al. (2019)
		Compound	β-asarone	In vitro (Aβ1-42 induced PC12 cell model of AD)		Inhibit Aβ	Wang et al. (2019)
		Compound	β-asarone	Aβ induced AD rat model	Antioxidant	SOD ↑, GPX ↑	Saki et al. (2020)
		Compound	β-asarone	Aβ induced AD rat model	Neuroprotective effect	SOD ↑, GPX ↑	Saki et al. (2020)
		Extract	volatile oil from Acorus gramineus	AD mice (Aβ1-42 injected mice)	Induce the regeneration of hippocampal neurons; promote the growth of hippocampal neurons and the clearance of Aβ	BDNF ↑, tyrosine protein kinase B ↑, neurotrophin-3 expression ↑	Gao et al. (2019)
		Compound	α-asarone	Sleep deprivation rat model	Improve the quality of sleep	Minimum variation between hypothalamic temperature and body temperature, enhanced the association between NREM sleep about duration and hypothalamic temperature, thereby improving the quality of sleep	Radhakrishnan et al. (2017)
Yuan zhi	Polygala tenuifolia Willd	Compound/Extract (water)	Polygala saponins	In vitro (Aβ-induced PC12 cells; BV2 cells) In vivo (D-galactose-induced aged mice, scopolamine-induced mice, chronic unpredictable mild stress-induced mice, APP/PS1 transgenic AD mice	Cognitive-improving effects	MAO ↓, AchE ↓, BDNF ↑, TrkB phosphorylation ↑, ASK1 ↓, JNK ↓, NT-3 ↑, NLRP3 inflammasome ↓, APP ↓, PS1/BACE1 interaction ↓	(Zhang et al., 2023)
					Improvement of synaptic transmission
					Activation of MAPK cascades
					Anti-apoptosis
					Antioxidant
		Extract (ethanol)	Polygala tenuifolia root extract	Neural stem cells in the hippocampal CA1 region	Therapeutic effects for insomnia, neurosis, dementia	Promotes the proliferation of neural stem cells	Park et al. (2008)
		Extract (ethanol)	Polygala tenuifolia root extract	Neural stem cells in the hippocampal CA1 region	Therapeutic effects for insomnia, neurosis, dementia	Promotes the neurite outgrowth of rat neuronal precursor cells, HiB5	Park et al. (2008)
		Compound	Tenuifolin	Freely moving mice	Sleep-improving effects: prolong the total sleep time by increasing the amount of NREM and REM sleep	Activation of the GABAergic system	Cao et al. (2016)
		Compound	Tenuifolin	Freely moving mice		Inhibition the noradrenergic system	Cao et al. (2016)

^{^a}

Herb names in Pin yin were standardized based on the 2020 Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China (https://db.ouryao.com/yd2020/accessed 4 September 2023).

^{^b}

Plant names are sourced from the “World Flora Online” (www.worldfloraonline.org accessed 4 September 2023).

“↑” indicates an upward revision; “↓” indicates a downward revision. Abbreviations: Aβ, amyloid β; Ach, acetylcholine; AChE, acetylcholinesterase; AD, Alzheimer’s disease; APP, amyloid precursor protein; ASK1, Apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1; BACE1, beta-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1; BCL-2: B-cell lymphoma/leukemia-2; BDNF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor; bFGF, basic fibroblast growth factor; CAT, catalase; GABA, γ-Aminobutyric acid; GPX, glutathione peroxidase; GSH-PX, GSH, peroxidase; HIF-1, hypoxia-inducible factor −1; IL, interleukin; JNK, c-Jun N-terminal kinase; MAO, monoamine oxidase; MAPK, mitogen-activated protein kinase; MDA, malondialdehyde; NLRP3, NOD-like receptor protein 3; NO, nitric oxide; NOS, nitric oxide synthase; NREM, sleep, non-rapid eye movement sleep; NSC, neural stem cell; NT-3, neurotrophin-3; REM, sleep, rapid eye movement sleep; ROS, reactive oxygen species; SOD, superoxide dismutase; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor α; TrkB, tropomysin related kinase B; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor.