INM®176

With a rapidly aging U.S. population, it is no surprise consumers are turning to natural products to protect their brain function; in fact, the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) estimates nearly three-quarters of consumers are using supplements, foods or beverages to prevent memory problems.

One new ingredient derived from the root of Angelica gigas NakaiINM®176 from Maypro Industriesappears to have the ability to support and promote normal brain function, including cognitive agility, and serve as a powerful antioxidant. Cultivated in Korea under strictly controlled conditions and harvested using patent-protected techniques, INM176 has a unique physiology, elucidated in scientific research and tested in clinical trials.

Originally, researchers from Seoul National University explored the possibility that a methanolic extract of the root of A. gigas Nakai could inhibit the activity of acetylcholinesterase (AChE).¹ The cholinergic hypothesis of cognitive impairment holds that inhibiting AChE should increase the efficiency of cholinergic functions, making acetylcholine more available for cognition. Through bioactivity-guided fractionations, the researchers isolated 12 coumarins responsible for AChE inhibitory activity; the most potent of which was decursinol.

Follow-up work by the researchers at Seoul National University and collaborators at Hallym University examined the impact of decursinol, decursin or an ethanolic extract of A. gigas Nakai (EAG) in mice. In the first study, researchers used ICR mice with amnesia induced by scopolamine to evaluate decursins anti-amnestic activity.² When administered to mice at 1 and 5 mg/kg body weight, decursin significantly ameliorated the amnesia; it also significantly inhibited AChE activity by 34 percent in the hippocampus of treated mice. Similar positive findings were reported in the second study, which involved mice with beta-amyloid peptide 1-42-induced memory impairment.³ Pretreatment of mice with EAG for four weeks before induced memory impairment significantly blocked cognitive decline. Pretreatment of mice with decursinol also significantly attenuated induced memory impairment and decrease in spatial learning memory.

These positive findings led to the development of the branded ingredient INM®176 and clinical studies of its efficacy in older adults with cognitive impairment, conducted at Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine. One prospective, 12-week, double blind, placebo-controlled trial involved administering INM176 in 80 older adults with clinically assessed cognitive impairment. The patients taking INM176 had a significant decrease in total error score in the Alzheimers Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive section (ADAScog), while the placebo group showed a slight increase. In addition, mean changes in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) and geriatric depression scale (GDS) from baseline scores favored INM176 subjects compared to placebo subjects.

Results from a similar trial were published in the Journal of Korean Neuropsychiatric Association.⁴ Following a similar protocol using 92 older adults with cognitive impairment, administration of INM176 again decreased the total error score in the ADAS-cog while the placebo groups score increased. Mean changes in IADL and GDS from baseline similarly favored the INM176 group. 

References

1. Kang SY et al. J Nat Prod. 64:683-85, 2001.

2. Kang SY et al. Neurobiol Learning Memory. 79:11- 18, 2003 3. Yan JJ et al. Progress Neuro-Psychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 28:25-30, 2004.

4. Kim JH et al. J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc. 42, 2:254-62, 2003.