Schisandra chinensis as one of the famous traditional Chinese medicine have been used in China for thousands of years. S. neglecta, s. rubriflora and s. sphaerandra in folk as same as the function of s. chinensis, often used in the treatment of insomnia, eliminate fatigue, increase intelligence, and tranquilize mind, etc. Schisandra plant except compounds of containing abundant lignans, also contains variety of structure of triterpene compound, such as nigranoic acid, SBB1, etc., but are rarely reported in neuropharmacology.

 

Calcium ions (Ca2 +) as a second messenger transform exogenous signals into intracellular signal, lead to a series of intracellular events and physiological reaction, such as gene expression, cell apoptosis, muscle contraction, etc. The studies have shown that the messenger function of Ca2 + is accomplished through regulating intracellular Ca2 + concentration. Recently, kunming institute of botany, Chinese academy of sciences Luo Huairong team and Sun Han dong team cooperation, the use of nerve cell line PC12 cells and found that schizandra triterpene compound neural pharmacology activity and its mechanism of action. The study found that SBB1 in time and dose dependent induced differentiation PC12 cells Ca2 + concentration increases, and SBB1 calcium flow effect is significant inhibition after remove the cell cultures Ca2 +. SBB1 can be produced nitric oxide (NO) after elevated intracellular Ca2 + concentration, and present Ca2 + dependencies. SBB1 by Ca2 + - calmodulin pathways activated cells regulate protein kinase ERK1/2 phosphorylation, and significantly enhanced expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor BDNF and immediate early genes c-fos gene.

 

To sum up, its result found SBB1 may promote NO produced and stimulate ERK1/2 protein phosphorylation by calcium current, thereby further influence the expression of BDNF and c - fos gene. In nervous system diseases such as alzheimer's disease and depression, the expression level of BDNF in the brain is very low, and the c - fos gene’s expression level is closely related to learning-memory. The research results provide new ideas for biological activity research of schisandra triterpene compounds.

 

The above research results have been titled to Effect of nigranoic acid on Ca2 + influx and its downstream signal mechanism in contraversy differentiated PC12 cells, and published online in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2014.03.038).

 

The research work obtain the one hundred projects of the Chinese academy of sciences, national natural science fund project (81373290) and the fund projects in Yunnan province(20080A007and 2012FB178) sponsorship.

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