Director-General Invited Seminar

Aging population and age-related diseases, i.e., osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease and neurodegenetation, are increasing across the globe. Searching for a better, safer and cheaper alternative treatment has become a focal point for many researchers. Pueraria mirifica (PM) is an endemic medicinal Thai plant which contains at least 17 phytoestrogens. Its estrogenic activity has been widely tested in in vitro cell lines and in vivo laboratory animals, including humans, on reproduction, cancer and bone. Recently, we have been researching the effects of PM on neurodegeneration which also highly occurs in postmenopausal women. PM exhibited positive effects on anit-Alzheimer’s disease tested in rat hippocampal H19-7 cell lines and in ovariectomized rats. In rats, PM showed either neuroprotective or neurotherapeutic action by decreasing expression of genes associated with amyloid plaques (App, Adam10 and Bace1) and neurofibrillary tangles (Tau3 and Tau4) at mRNA and protein levels, and cognitive impairment. This leads to the idea of developing PM as agent for anti-Alzheimer’s disease to improve humans’ health for the pharmaceutical company.