JP2007246498A - Nerve growth factor-producing inducer with field wasabi(japanese horseradish) extract as active ingredient - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To find the functionality of helping preventing dementia in field wasabi's unused leaves and stalks. <P>SOLUTION: A field wasabi extract having the effect of inducing the production of a nerve growth factor effective on dementia is provided, being obtained by the following process: The leaves and stalks parts of field wasabi are entirely dried so as not to set the pungent-taste ingredient of the field wasabi free followed by subjecting the thus dried leaves and stalks parts to enzyme deactivation by heating, homogeneous powdering, solvent extraction in an anhydrous condition, centrifugation and membrane filtration, and concentration under reduced pressures. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a nerve growth factor production inducer comprising field wasabi extract as an active ingredient.

  The research on wasabi is progressing, antibacterial action, antifungal action, anti-insect action, anti-cancer action, anti-thrombotic action by wasabi oil components of wasabi, gastrointestinal absorption promotion action by wasabi extract, anti-diarrhea action Bone strengthening action is already known. Wasabi is a perennial plant belonging to the Brassicaceae family, and can be divided into swab and field wasabi depending on the cultivation method. Wasabi is used as a spice raw material, but the wasabi rhizomes and field wasabi rhizomes are used at that time. Especially, the wasabi leaves and petioles are discarded in many cases industrially. The current situation is.

  Even though the wasabi has high functionality, it is contrary to zero emission, which is the goal of modern society, to produce waste without using the whole. Development of an effective utilization method is desired.

  On the other hand, progress toward an aging society is progressing nationwide, and the number of patients with dementia, which is particularly likely to occur frequently in the elderly, has increased from 1.8 million to 2.5 million in 2015 and 3.37 million in 2035. There is also an expectation that it will increase to 1, and is attracting attention as a social problem such as an increase in the burden of nursing care.

  Under such circumstances, there is currently only one drug for treating dementia. Although there was a time when brain metabolism improving drugs were used as drugs to improve dementia, insurance approval was canceled because the effect was not recognized by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, so degradation of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine is now Only Aricept, which suppresses the disease, is approved as a treatment for dementia. Therefore, the development of new drugs for the treatment of dementia is proceeding at a rapid pace.

  Development of new drugs for the treatment of dementia is important, but it is more important to prevent dementia and suppress the increase in patients with dementia. Prof. Akira Ueki, Department of Neurology, Oji Medical Center, Jichi Medical University, announced that low intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids such as EPA and DHA can be a factor in the development of dementia, especially Alzheimer's dementia Yes. That is, it is expected that sufficient intake of various nutrients contained in foods such as EPA and DHA is necessary for prevention of Alzheimer's dementia.

  Numerous supplements are currently sold for the purpose of supplementing various nutrients and are used by many people. Among them are foods for specified health use with specific functions, and more than 600 foods have already been approved. However, unfortunately, there are still no active involvement in dementia prevention.

  There are various ways to prevent dementia from a nutritional and pharmaceutical standpoint, but there is a way to improve the function of factors that activate our nerve cells (nerve growth factor). One of them. In this method, nerve growth factors are activated to suppress the loss of nerve cells and maintain the elongation of nerve cells.

An action of enhancing the action of nerve growth factor has been found on isothiocyanates derived from plants belonging to the Brassicaceae plant. This has been clarified by the evaluation of a cultured cell system to which nerve growth factor has been added, but it does not increase the amount of nerve growth factor produced by the nerve cell itself. That is, since it must be accompanied by the addition of nerve growth factor, it is not always effective for those whose production amount of nerve growth factor is decreasing. In order to make this effective, it is necessary to find something that has the effect of increasing the production of nerve growth factor itself in the cruciferous plant. However, an active ingredient that induces nerve growth factor production has not yet been found in Brassicaceae plants.
JP 2006-16362 A

  The problem to be solved is that none of the cruciferous plants has been found to have an action of inducing production of nerve growth factor as an active ingredient for preventing dementia.

  Searching for fractions that have nerve growth factor production-inducing activity with components other than isothiocyanates in the leaves and petioles of field crab wasabi was carried out by enzyme immunoassay. As a result, it was found that the extract of the Brassicaceae plant field wasabi has an effect of inducing nerve growth factor production.

  The main feature of the present invention is that an effective extract is obtained from field wasabi in an anhydrous state and has an action of inducing nerve growth factor.

  According to the present invention, added value is added to the unused part of field wasabi, and the active ingredient according to the present invention is incorporated into foods, health foods, health functional foods, quasi drugs, to prevent dementia. Can be useful.

  It is possible to obtain an extract containing active ingredients with nerve growth factor-inducing effect useful for prevention of dementia by completely drying, powdering, and non-hydrolyzing the leaves or petiole parts that are unused parts of field wasabi it can. EXAMPLES Next, examples are given to specifically describe the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

  The field wasabi leaves and 1 kg of field wasabi were dried by sun-drying, further heated at 75 ° C. for 6 hours by an electric low-temperature dryer, and then further heated at 105 ° C. for 30 minutes for complete drying and enzyme deactivation. The obtained dried field wasabi was pulverized using a mill and made into a uniform powder through an 80-mesh wire mesh.

  The powder obtained above was subjected to continuous extraction for 8 hours under reflux with 5 to 10 times the amount of anhydrous methanol, and then centrifuged at 200 × g for 30 minutes to remove the oil layer. The residual solution was filtered through a 0.22 μm membrane filter, and the solvent of the obtained filtrate was distilled off under reduced pressure to obtain about 300 mg (sample 1) of a dried solid product.

  According to the method of Furukawa et al. (Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communaton, 136, 57-63, 1986), sample 1 obtained as described above was treated with 5% carbon dioxide in primary embryonic astroglial cells in the late embryonic period (19 days old). Culture in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) containing 10% fetal calf serum in an incubator (change medium every 1-2 days for 1 to 2 weeks), and when it reaches confluence, it contains 0.5% bovine serum albumin It changed to DMEM and cultured for several days. The sample 1 dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was administered in DMEM containing 0.5% bovine serum albumin so as to have a predetermined concentration, and cultured for 24 hours. After culturing, the culture broth was collected, and nerve growth factor concentration was measured by an enzyme immunoassay method according to the method of Furukawa et al. (Journal of Neurochemistry, 40, 734 to 744, 1983). As a result of performing t-test between a control group cultured without administration of sample 1 and a group cultured with administration of sample 1 at 25 μg / ml, it was verified to be effective with a risk rate of 1%.

  By obtaining the field wasabi extract according to the present invention, it becomes possible to utilize the unused portion of field wasabi, contributing to zero emission in the wasabi processing industry, and the effect of the nerve growth factor production induction of the extract continues to increase at present. It is expected to help prevent dementia, so it can be expected to contribute to reducing medical expenses for Japanese people.

Claims (1)

  A nerve growth factor production inducer comprising, as an active ingredient, an extract obtained by extracting dry matter of leaf or petiole of field wasabi with an anhydrous solvent.