Scrophularia buergeriana extract improves memory impairment via inhibition of the apoptosis pathway in the mouse hippocampus

Scrophularia buergeriana (SB) Miq. (Scrophulariaceae) has been used to help cure swelling and fever and has reported antioxidant and neuro-protective effects. However, few mechanism–based studies have evaluated the memory-improving effects in a beta-amyloid induced memory loss model. As a result of Scrophularia buergeriana extract (SBE) administration (30 and 100 mg/kg) for 28 days significantly recovered beta-amyloid-induced amnesia in the passive avoidance test and improved the impairment of spatial memory in the Morris Water Maze (MWM) task. Furthermore, SBE up-regulated superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD)-1, SOD-2, glutathione peroxidase-1, and B-cell lymphoma (Bcl)-2 protein expression levels. Additionally, SBE downregulated Bcl-2-associated X protein, cleaved caspase-9, cleaved poly (adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase, and Aβ protein expression levels and inhibited the phosphorylation of the tau protein of Aβ-treated mice hippocampus. These results demonstrate that SBE improved memory impairment by reducing beta-amyloid induced neurotoxicity and regulated oxidative stress, anti-apoptotic pathways.