18 beta-glycyrrhetinic acid ameliorates the cognitive functions and decreases the recurrence rate of pituitary adenomas patients

Authors

  • Xianxiang Wang Department of Neurosurgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230022, China
  • Yiquan Zhang Department of Neurosurgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230022, China
  • Jin Xiao Department of Neurosurgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230022, China
  • Ke Zhang Department of Neurosurgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230022, China
  • Qingxin Li Department of Neurosurgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230022, China
  • Hongwei Chen Department of Neurosurgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230022, China
  • Fei Liu Department of Neurosurgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230022, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17179/excli2018-1330

Keywords:

pituitary adenoma, cognitive function, 18 beta-glycyrrhetinic acid (GA), recurrence rate

Abstract

Pituitary adenomas, the most common tumors of all intracranial neoplasms, may cause either symptoms of mass effect or symptoms of hormone abnormal production. Besides physical damages, patients with pituitary adenomas always suffer from cognitive impairments, mainly in memory and executive functions. 18 beta-glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) has been found to exhibit anti-tumor effects in rat pituitary adenoma-derived cells. The aim of this paper was to investigate the effect of GA in postoperative clinical application. In this study, we recruited 647 patients with pituitary adenoma and 135 patients who dropped out were excluded from analysis. Thus, altogether 512 patients with pituitary adenoma completed the study, of whom 268 were treated with GA, and 244 were treated with placebo. Cognitive assessments, eyesight, tumor size, and hormone secretion levels were examined before and after surgery in both groups. All patients underwent surgeries by single-nostril transsphenoidal approach for their first-time medical treatment. Hormone secretion levels were measured by blood samples and Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used for examining the status of tumor excision. Compared with placebo group, the scores in orientation, language (expression), memory (recall), practice, abstract thinking, and MiniMental State Examination (MMSE) were significantly improved (p < 0.05) in GA treated group after one month of surgery. After six months, there was still a significant increase in abstract thinking scores. Moreover, GA did not impact the overall survival percentage of patients enrolled during our five-year follow-up, but significantly reduced the recurrence rate than that of the placebo group. GA significantly improved the cognitive functions at the early stage after surgery and had a long-termed efficacy on abstract thinking. Notably, GA inhibited the five-year recurrence rate of the recruited pituitary adenomas patients.

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Published

2018-07-27

How to Cite

Wang, X., Zhang, Y., Xiao, J., Zhang, K., Li, Q., Chen, H., & Liu, F. (2018). 18 beta-glycyrrhetinic acid ameliorates the cognitive functions and decreases the recurrence rate of pituitary adenomas patients. EXCLI Journal, 17, 753–761. https://doi.org/10.17179/excli2018-1330

Issue

Vol. 17 (2018)

Section

Original articles

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