It is very important to search for natural compounds possessing nerve growth factor (NGF)-potentiating activity. Extracts of 7 Chinese and 10 Paraguayan medicinal plants were examined for their effects on the NGF-mediated neurite outgrowth from PC12D cells to evaluate their NGF-potentiating activities. In the methanol extracts, Gymmopteris rufa (LINN.) BERNH, Ruta graveolens LINN. and Picrorhiza scrophulariiflora PENNELL markedly increased the proportion of neurite-bearing cells. In the case of ethyl acetate fractions, Equisetum giganteum LINN. produced the most powerful enhancement of the proportion of the neurite-bearing cells, and the activities were in the following decreasing order : Equisetum giganteum LINN., Gymmopteris rufa (LINN.) BERNH, Ruta graveolens LINN., and Picrorhiza scrophulariiflora PENNELL. In the water fractions, Imperata cylindrica, Ginseng Radix, Gymmopteris rufa (LINN.) BERNH, Gochnatia polymorpha (LESS) CAB and Picrorhiza scrophulariiflora PENNELL caused a weak enhancement of the proportion of PC12D cells with neurites. Of all extracts and fractions, the methanol extract of Picrorhiza scrophulariiflora PENNELL induced the longest neurites in PC12D cells. In the ethyl acetate and water fractions of Nardostachys chinensis, long neurites were observed although only a small proportion of PC12D cells had neurites. On the other hand, in the ethyl acetate fraction of Equisetum gigantheum LINN., while the length of the neurites was short, the proportion of neurite-bearing cells was largest among all the extracts and fractions.