Objectives: Bacopa monniera (BM) is an Indian herb used for centuries as a memory tonic in Ayurvedic medicine. Preclinical research has shown that BM acts as an antioxidant, improves memory, and reduces amyloid plaque deposition in animal models of Alzheimer's disease. Human studies suggest that BM provides a fairly robust benefit to performance on certain attention, working memory, and learning tasks. This talk will present a review of BM research through animal models to human clinical trials and what research is currently being undertaken on BM.
Methods: Two studies will be discussed further to the review of BM: (1) An acute dose-ranging study of healthy young adults where participants were required to complete a multi-tasking framework (MTF) and mood scales at baseline, 1hr and 3hrs post dose. The dosage was 300 or 600mg of BM or a matched placebo. (2) The study utilized a double blind, placebo controlled crossover design where all participants completed a 90 day course of both Bacopa (300mg daily) and placebo during the study. The participants were aged between 40 and 65 years and in good health. The interventions were separated by a 120 day washout period. The scans were undertaken on a 3T Siemens TRIO magnet before and after each 90 day intervention where participants would complete two runs of the task per scan visit.
Results: (1) There was a significant, dose-dependent effect of treatment on ratings of alertness favouring the 600 mg treatment at both post-dose assessment times. There was a trend for dose-related effects on performance of the MTF, in particular for the Stroop task where there was an advantage for the 300 mg dose. (2) The data collection is still ongoing. The baseline data show a bilateral increase in BOLD activation in the precentral gyrus and precuneus with activation extending to the left inferior frontal gyrus (n=7, p=.005) when compared with controls using a task greater than baseline mask.
Conclusions: The conclusions are speculative at this point for both studies, one being still in the data collection stage, one being underpowered. However, the methodologies and the future directions of these studies will be discussed.