AUTHOR=Bader Benjamin M. , Jügelt Konstantin , Schultz Luise , Schroeder Olaf H.-U. 

TITLE=Ginkgo biloba L. (Ginkgoaceae) Leaf Extract Medications From Different Providers Exhibit Differential Functional Effects on Mouse Frontal Cortex Neuronal Networks

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pharmacology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2018.00848

DOI=10.3389/fphar.2018.00848

ISSN=1663-9812

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Details of the extraction and purification procedure can have a profound impact on the composition of plant-derived extracts, and thus on their efficacy and safety. So far, studies with head-to-head comparison of the pharmacology of <italic>Ginkgo</italic> extracts rendered by different procedures have been rare.</p><p><bold>Objective:</bold> The objective of this study was to explore whether <italic>Ginkgo biloba L. (Ginkgoaceae)</italic> leaf extract medications of various sources protect against amyloid beta toxicity on primary mouse cortex neurons growing on microelectrode arrays, and whether the effects differ between different <italic>Ginkgo</italic> extracts.</p><p><bold>Design:</bold> Our brain-on-chip platform integrates microelectrode array data recorded on neuronal tissue cultures from embryonic mouse cortex. Amyloid beta 42 (Aβ42) and various <italic>Ginkgo</italic> extract preparations were added to the networks <italic>in vitro</italic> before evaluation of electrophysiological parameters by multi-parametric analysis. A Multi-variate data analysis, called Effect Score, was designed to compare effects between different products.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> The results show that Ginkgo extracts protected against Aβ42-induced electrophysiological alterations. Different <italic>Ginkgo</italic> extracts exhibited different effects. Of note, the reference <italic>Ginkgo biloba L. (Ginkgoaceae)</italic> leaf medication Tebonin had the most pronounced rescuing effect.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> Here, we show for the first time a side-by-side analysis of a large number of <italic>Ginkgo</italic> medications in a relevant <italic>in vitro</italic> system modeling early functional effects induced by amyloid beta peptides on neuronal transmission and connectivity. <italic>Ginkgo biloba L. (Ginkgoaceae)</italic> leaf extract from different manufactures exhibit differential functional effects in this neural network model. This in-depth analysis of functional phenotypes of neurons cultured on MEAs chips allows identifying optimal plant extract formulations protecting against toxin-induced functional effects <italic>in vitro</italic>.</p>