What Are Good Memory Enhancers?
Memory is the ability of an individual to record sensory stimuli, events, information, etc., retain them over short or long periods of time and recall the same at a later date when needed. Poor memory, lower retention and slow recall are common problems in today’s stressful and competitive world. Age, stress, negative emotions are conditions that may led to memory loss, amnesia, anxiety, high blood pressure, dementia, and more ominous threat like schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s diseases. Nature provides a new opportunity to regain one’s full mental capacity.
A number of herbs traditionally employed in the Indian System of Medicine, “Ayurveda”, have yielded positive results, and we provide you the information below, quoted from an informal study by Dr. Ilangovan Ramasamy, B.S. (Zoology), B.S.(Ag), M.S.(Ag), Ph.D. (Ag) AgriInfoTech, Inc.
We find this study extremely interesting, not only because of the number of herbs mentioned, but because our favorite memory enhancer, Celastrus paniculatus, is mentioned in a most favorable light.
Acorus calamus
A semi-aquatic plant, Acorus calamus (also called Sweet Flag) is a valuable medicinal herb found almost throughout India. It is traditionally employed in nervous disorders. The rhizomes of Acorus calamus are used in loss of memory given in combination with other drugs like Centella asiatica, Bacopa monneiri and Rauwolfia serpentina as a memory booster. Acorus calamus is well known for its memory enhancing activity and enhanced learning performance of the drug-administered animals, and the descendants of those animals.
Acorus, when mixed with food and given to albino rats, showed excellent learning and memory performance, proving its popular memory boosting activity.
Bacopa monnieri
A well known memory booster, Bacopa monnieri is an Indian herb commonly given to infants, where it is observed to boost memory power, intelligence, and mental health. Bacopa monnieri is also called Brahmi, a name derived from Brahma, the creator god of the Hindu pantheon of deities. It is celebrated for its diversity of usage. It is said that the use of Bacopa monnieri for memory enhancement goes back 3000 years or more in India, when it was cited for its medicinal properties, especially its memory-enhancing capacity, in the Vedic texts “Athar-Ved Samhita” (3:1) of 800 B.C. and in Ayurveda.
The placebo-controlled double blind study tested the efficacy of Bacopa monnieri in children. For six weeks, 50 normal school children split into two groups were given Bacopa monnieri and placebo respectively. At the conclusion, they were evaluated for attention, concentration, and memory. Bacopa monnieri was shown to improve all these aspects significantly.
Preclinical studies have reported that the administration of extract (40mg/kg, p.o.) for three or more days is reported to improve the performance of rats in various learning situations. Studies revealed that bacosides, which are the major phytoconstituents in Bacopa monnieri, help to repair damaged neurons by enhancing proteins involved in the regeneration of neural-cell synapses. These are the relay stations of the brain that facilitate the transmission of nerve impulses.
Thus, Bacopa monnieri can be viewed as a neural nourisher, restoring depleted synaptic activity and leading to enhanced memory function.
Celastrus paniculata
Celastrus paniculatus belongs to a genus of woody, climbing shrubs distributed almost all over India. In folk medicine the seeds are boiled and taken for blood purification. The seeds constitute the drug; they are bitter, have an unpleasant odor and are traditionally used for sharpening the memory. Recent preclinical studies of the seed extract on male rats showed an improvement in learning and memory in both the shuttle-box and step-through paradigms. The study also demonstrates that the cognition-enhancing properties of extract of Celastrus paniculatus seed could be attributed to its antioxidant effect.
Yet another study investigated the effects of the seed oil of Celastrus paniculatus on the 6 day performance of young adult rats in a navigational memory task; the Morris water maze. These studies confirm the memory boosting properties of Celastrus paniculatus.
Centella asiatica
Centella asiatica, commonly known as Mandookaparni is a widely available Indian herb that has been used for centuries in Indian systems of medicine. For the last 3,000 years of Ayurvedic medicine, it has been used for the purposes of boosting memory, wound healing, for mild diuretic effects, for increasing concentration and alertness, as well as for relieving anxiety and stress. It has also been used for centuries in the treatment of liver and kidney problems.
In pharmacological and clinical trials, Centella asiatica has been found to improve the power of concentration and general ability and behavior of developmentally delayed children. The clinical trials demonstrated that the extract increases the intelligence quotient in developmentally delayed children.
In a clinical trial an Ayurvedic drug having Centella asiatica as one of the main ingredients reported marked improvement in children with behavioral problems. It is found to improve short-term memory and learning performance due to its possible nootropic action involving cholinergic and GABAergic modulation. Preclinical studies showed an impressive improvement in memory. The treated rats retained learned behavior 3 to 60 times better than the untreated rats.
Centella asiatica causes an overall decrease in the turnover of central monoamines, implicating the involvement of Norepinephrine, Dopamine and 5-HT systems in learning and memory process.
Withania somnifera
Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) has been used for thousands of years as a popular remedy for many conditions. Withania somnifera is one of the best known and most researched Ayurvedic herbs and holds a place in Ayurvedic traditions similar to Ginseng in Chinese therapies. For that reason, Withania somnifera has been often referred to as the “Indian Ginseng”. Withania somnifera is used in several indigenous drug preparations for maintaining health as well as treatment of several disease conditions. Withania somnifera extract (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg orally) improved retention of a passive avoidance task in a step-down paradigm in mice. It also reversed the scopolamine-induced disruption of acquisition and retention and attenuated the amnesia produced by acute treatment with electro convulsive shock (ECS), immediately after training.
Chronic treatment with ECS, for 6 successive days at 24 h intervals, disrupted memory consolidation on day 7. Daily administration of ashwagandha for 6 days significantly improved memory consolidation in mice receiving chronic ECS treatment. Withania somnifera (50 mg/kg) significantly reversed both ibotenic acid-induced cognitive deficit and the reduction in cholinergic markers after 2 weeks of treatment. In another study conducted, it was observed that Withania somnifera extracts induced an increase in cortical muscarinic acetylcholine receptor capacity which might partly explain the cognition-enhancing and memory-improving effects of the extracts as observed in animals and humans.
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Resources:
Dr. Ilangovan Ramasamy can be contacted via E-mail or AgriInfoTech
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