| Aging, a common phenomenon in the nature, is also a ubiquitous natural law in the living nature. In vivo tissues and organs would have degenerative changes[1] when a biological individual grows and develops to a certain stage, which is called as aging. It involves a series of complicated and multi-link biological processes. Many studies have indicated that the symptoms of aging and the occurrences of aging-related diseases are associated with the excessive accumulation of free radicals in the body. At present, some studies have shown that the use of antioxidants can eliminate excessive free radicals and remove their attack on tissues and cells of the body, thereby delaying aging and preventing and treating aging-related diseases.Huangjing complex in the experiment, made up of Huangjing, lycium barbarum, polygonatum odoratum, Chinese date and other medicinal and edible traditional Chinese medicines, is effective in adjusting immunity, improving memory and resisting aging. In the theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine, the idea of "homology of medicine and food" has been established for a long time. Traditional Chinese medicine endows daily food "flavor and meridian tropism" as same as traditional Chinese medicines, considers common food as drugs and puts forwards the concept of "homology of medicine and food". In 2007, the National Ministry of Health published the Catalogue of the Substances Traditionally Considered as Both Food and Chinese Medicine, in which 87 edible Chinese medicinal materials have been listed. In 2014, the Administration Measures for the Catalogue of the Substances Traditionally Considered as Both Food and Chinese Medicine (Exposure Draft) was published to increase the figure to 101. Edible Chinese medicinal materials are as safe and nutritious as food, and have both the therapeutic effect and the health value of medicines. They are ideal choices for the development of antioxidative and anti-aging products. With an appetizing and glutinous taste, Huangjing complex extract used in our research is satisfying in color as well as rich and sweet in smell, making it easy to win public acceptance. Moreover, the raw materials are common medical materials that require low development costs. Furthermore, it has a great market potential because of its strong plasticity.To extract and isolate the effective constituents, reflux extraction process, rotary evaporation and cold drying were employed in the experiment. In the first part of the experiment, spectrophotometry was adopted to explore the role of Huangjing complex extracts at different concentrations in eliminating DPPH free radicals and hydroxyl free radicals, and they were compared with positive drug (Vitamin C). In the second part of the experiment, we mainly investigated the effects of Huangjing complex extracts at different dosages (100,300,900 mg/kg.d, respectively) on D-galactose-induced mice aging model. In this experiment, a mice aging model was established through the intraperitonel injection of D-galactose. Mice were fed by infusing the stomach. Vitamin C was used as a positive control. With the method of Morris water-maze, the control group was compared with the mice aging model, and the spatial memory ability and learning memory ability of the mice fed with three dosages of drugs were evaluated. After these mice were sacrificed by cervical dislocation, the effect of Huangjing complex extracts on their immune system was assessed by measuring the weights of their immune organs to calculate the immune organ indexes as well as the rate of splenic lymphocyte transformation. Since it was impossible to weigh the heavily degenerative thymuses of many mice in later stage of the experiment, especially those in the aging model group, only livers and spleens were taken from each group to calculate the organ indexes. Splenic lymphocytes were extracted for the splenic lymphocytes transformation experiment. Blood was collected from mice to isolate the serum, and the liver and brain tissues were also taken. Multiple antioxidation-related indexes of organs were measured by colorimetric method. Meanwhile, double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was performed to determine the telomerase content in the liver and brain tissues in order to evaluate the effect of Huangjing complex extracts on telomerase in mice.The results suggested that Huangjing complex extracts played a good role in eliminating DPPH free radicals and hydroxyl free radicals. Compared with the model group, the spleen indexes of mice fed with medium and higher dosages of drugs were increased evidently, and among the mice fed with a higher dosage of drugs, the rate of splenic lymphocyte transformation was also improved greatly, suggesting that Huangjing complex had a good protective effect on the immune systems of the mice. The measurement results of indexes related to antioxidation in serums, liver tissues and brain tissues of these mice showed that, for the mice fed with Huangjing complex extracts, there were obvious increases in the levels of SOD and GSH-PX and significant decreases in the levels of MDA and NO in their serums, varying degrees of increases in the levels of SOD, GSH-PX, T-AOC and decreases in the level of MDA in their livers, and varying degrees of increases in the levels of SOD, GSH-PX and T-AOC and decreases in the levels of MDA and NO in their brain tissues, suggesting that Huangjing complex may delay aging by enhancing the antioxidant abilities of the body. The increases in telomerase in the livers and brain tissues indicated that Huangjing complex played a protective role in telomerase. For the mice taking Huangjing complex, the durations of stay on the water-maze platform quadrant were extended, while the escape latencies were shortened, suggesting that this prescription alleviated the aging symptoms by improving learning and memory abilities.The results suggested that by eliminating free radicals in the body, Huangjing complex played a combined role in improving the antioxidant capacity of the body, increasing the content of telomerase in the body, enhancing learning and memory abilities and improving the body immunity, thus achieving the effect of delaying aging. |
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