Table 1.

The neuropharmacological effects of Cistanches Herba.

Pharmacological effects	Traditional and clinical uses	Extracts/ Compounds	Minimal active concentration/ Dose	Animal/ Cell line	In vivo/ In vitro	Duration	Control	References
Anti-Alzheimer’s disease	In Alzheimer’s disease–like mice model caused by reducing quinolinic acid: enhance learning and memory, protect the brain damage	Glycosides	62.5 mg/kg	Kunming mice	In vivo	17 days	Positive control: Duxil (8 mg/kg)	Liu et al., 2005
	In Alzheimer’s disease–like mice model caused by amyloid β-protein: enhance learning and memory	Glycosides	62.5 mg/kg	NIH mice	In vivo	17 days	Positive control: vitamin E (50 mg/kg)	Liu et al., 2006
	In Alzheimer’s disease–like mice model caused by AlCl3: improve learning and memory problems	Glycosides	62.5 mg/kg	Kunming mice	In vivo	20 days	Positive control: vitamin E (50 mg/kg)	Luo et al., 2007
	In Alzheimer’s disease–like mice model caused by amyloid β-protein: enhance learning and memory	Glycosides	25 mg/L	PC12 cell	In vitro	120 h	Positive control: Ginkgo laminae (40 mg/L)	Luo et al., 2010
	In Alzheimer’s disease–like rat model caused by amyloid β-protein: improve learning and memory	Glycosides	40 mg/kg	SD rats	In vivo	14 days	Positive control: vitamin E (50 mg/kg)	Luo et al., 2013
	In aging rat model caused by D-galactose: protect hepatic mitochondria	Alcohol extract	2 g/kg/d	Wistar rat	In vivo	6 weeks	Not mentioned	Xu et al., 2007
	In aging model caused by D-galactose: enhance oxidation resistance, improve mitochondrial energy metabolism	Polysaccharide	50 mg/kg	ICR mice	In vivo	4 weeks	Positive control: vitamin E (100 mg/mL)	Xu and Liu, 2008
	Protective effect of Cistanche polysaccharide on liver mitochondria in aging rats	Polysaccharide	2 g/kg/d	Wistar rat	In vivo	6 weeks	Not mentioned	Xu et al., 2008
	Antagonize free radical damage, enhance heart and brain telomerase activity and immune function in aging mice	Polysaccharide	25 mg/kg	ICR mice	In vivo	6 weeks	Normal control: normal saline	Zhang et al., 2011
	Protect cells from DNA damage, partly elucidating the mechanism of its effects and has potential anti-senescence activity	Acteoside and echinacoside	100 mg/kg	SAM-P8 mice and control SAM-R1 mice	In vivo	4weeks	Not mentioned	Zhang et al., 2014
	In aging rat model caused by D-galactose: enhance oxidation resistance, reduce liver mitochondrial oxidative damage	Water extract	40 mg/kg	ICR mice	In vivo	2 weeks	Normal control: normal saline	Zhang et al., 2008
	In aging rat model caused by D-galactose: antagonize free radical damage, enhance heart and brain telomerase activity and immune function	Echinacoside	1 μM	Cell line MRC-5	In vitro	48 h	Normal control: 250 μM H2O2	Xie et al., 2009
	Scavenge free radicals effectively and has protection against OH∙-induced DNA damage	Glycosides	50 μL	Not mentioned	In vitro	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Wang et al., 2001
Anti-oxidative and Anti-apoptotic	Effect of Polysacchrides of Cistanche deserticola Y. C. Ma on Lipid Peroxide in Aging Mice	Polysacchrides	50 mg/kg	NIH mice	In vivo	7 weeks	Positive control: vitamin E (35 mg/kg)	Wu and Fu, 2004
	Protective effect of Cistanche deserticola on skeletal muscle oxidative injury in high intensity training rats	Alcohol extract	1 mg/g	SD rats	In vivo	4 weeks	Positive control: Oral Liquid of Rhodiola (0.5 Ml/100g)	Luo et al., 2012
	Rescues the SHSY5Y neuronal cells from TNFα-induced apoptosis	Echinacoside	1 mg/L	SH-SY5Y cell	In vitro	2 h	Not mentioned	Deng et al., 2005
Improve learning and memory	Effects of Cistanchis glycosides on the Learning and Memory of Kidney Yang Deficiency Mice	Glycosides	100 mg/kg	Kunming mice	In vivo	30 days	Positive control: Jing guishen qi pill (1.5 g/kg)	Gao et al., 2005
	The effect of phenylethanoid glycosides of the Cistanche deserticola on scopolamine-induced impairment of learning memory in mice	Phenylethanoid glycosides	10 mg/kg	Kunming mice	In vivo	Not mentioned	Normal control: normal saline	Li, 2011
	Enhance the ability of learning and memorizing	Phenylethanoid glycosides	50 mg/kg	Kunming mice	In vivo	30 days	Normal control: normal saline	Liu et al., 2011
	Enhances learning and memory by inducing nerve growth factor	Glycosides	10 μg/mL, 10 μL	PC12 cell line	In vitro	48 h	Positive control: nerve growth factor (50 μg/mL)	Choi et al., 2011
	Improve the learning and memory ability	Glycosides	2.5 mg/kg/d	Wistar rat	In vivo	14 days	Positive control: Oxiracetam (450 mg/kg/d)	Feng et al., 2013
Anti-Parkinson’s disease	Improves the behavioral and neurochemical outcomes in MPTP mice model of Parkinson’s disease and inhibits caspase-3 and caspase-8 activation in cerebellar granule neurons	Echinacoside	5 mg/kg	C57BL/6 mice	In vivo	15 days	Positive control: amantadine (40 mg/kg)	Geng et al., 2007
	Protect neurons	Acteoside	25 mg/L	Wistar rat	In vivo	12 h	Not mentioned	Pu et al., 2001
	Protecting effect of Cistanche extracts on MPP+ induced injury of the Parkinson’s disease cell model	Extract	2 μg	SH-SY5Y cell	In vitro	48 h	Not mentioned	Wang et al., 2007
	Reduce 6-OHDA-induced ROS production in PC12 cells	Echinacoside	0.1 μM	PC12 cells	In vitro	24 h	Not mentioned	Wang Y.H. et al., 2015