Introduction: Tacca chantrieri Andre is used frequently by traditional healers to alleviate pain and fever, mostly by reducing inflammation. Its rhizome extract possesses remarkable peripheral anti-inflammatory and antioxidant bioactivities. However, little information is available regarding its anti-neuroinflammation effects. This study aimed to assess the neuroprotective effects of T. chantrieri rhizome ethanol extract (TCE) against lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-induced neuroinflammation.
Methods: Rats were orally administered with TCE at doses of 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg continually for 9 days. On day 7 of treatment, each rat received a single intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (0.83 mg/kg). The cognitive performance was observed via Y-maze test and novel object recognition (NOR) test. Thereafter, proinflammatory cytokine level in the hippocampus was measured by ELISA.
Results: Systemic LPS administration caused sickness behavior, cognitive impairment, and neuroinflammation. TCE at doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg reversed the LPS-induced behavioral deficits, which showed an improvement of spontaneous alternation in the Y-maze test and discrimination index in NOR test. Additionally, pretreatment with TCE at doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg markedly attenuated the LPS-induced rise in protein expression of TNF-α.
Conclusion: TCE exerted neuroprotective effects against LPS-induced cognitive deficit and suppressed the production of pro-inflammatory mediators in a dose-dependent manner. These results indicate that TCE may exhibit therapeutic benefit in preventing neuroinflammation-associated cognitive impairment. However, further studies are necessary to validate the possible mechanisms of its neuroprotective effect.