Research Progress in Improving Nervous System Function and Industrial Application of Polygonati rhizoma

As a traditional Chinese medicine with food and drug homology, Polygonati rhizoma is rich in the chemical components including polysaccharides, flavonoids, steroidalsaponins, alkaloids and so on. It has a variety of biological activities, such as anti-oxidation, immunoregulation, neuroprotection, etc. In recent years, the reports about the neuroprotection of Polygonati rhizoma have received wide attention. This paper reviews the research progress on improving cognition, anti-depressant and improving sleep of Polygonati rhizoma aqueous extracts, polysaccharides and saponins in the past decade. The mechanisms involve anti-inflammation, antioxidant, regulating neurotrophic factors, regulating neurotransmitters, regulating neuroplasticity, promoting the activity of the central cholinergic system, affecting the structure and function of the hippocampus and so on. At the same time, this paper also analyzes the development status of Polygonati rhizoma, which provide reference for the research and development of Polygonati rhizoma with the neuroregulatory functionalproducts.