Memory Enhancing and Antioxidant Properties of Fermented Chongmyung-tang

The Chongmyung-tang (CMT) has been used as an oriental herbal medicine for the purpose of enhanced learning and memory. Recently, since fermentation may give a positive effect on pharmacological actions of herbal medicine, many studies are focused to find fermented medicinal herbs with improved bioactivity. In the present study, memory enhancing, antioxidant and reducing power activity of CMT and fermented CMT with Aspergillus oryzae (FCMT-A) or Saccharomyces cerevisiae (FCMT-S) were determined. To evaluate the memory enhancing activities of CMT, FCMT-A and FCMT-S, we performed passive avoidance test using scopolamine induced amnesia model. Administration of CMT, FCMT-A and FCMT-S showed a significant memory enhancing effect about 72.5, 78.3, 71.8% of the normal group respectively. CMT, FCMT-A and FCMT-S also exhibited strong DPPHㆍ, ㆍO₂-, NO˙, ABTS˙+ scavenging activities and reducing ower. It was also found that fermented CMT has slightly higher scavenging activities on DPPHㆍ, ABTS˙+ radicals compared to CMT. These results revealed that CMT, FCMT-A and FCMT-S had memory enhancing and radical scavenging activities. In addition, the fermentation of CMT was more or less important for elevated memory enhancing and antioxidant activities of CMT.