Abstract

NEUROPROTECTIVE AND MEMORY ENHANCING EFFECTS OF SCOPOLETIN IN OKADIAC ACID INDUCED MEMORY IMPAIRMENT IN MICE

Malvika Gursahani, Nitin Gawali and Archana Juvekar*

ABSTRACT

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a multifactoral neurodegenerative disease. The major hallmarks include amyloid β plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, inflammation, synaptic dysfunction, oxidative stress and neuronal loss. In the present study, Okadiac acid (200ng) was injected i.c.v. to induce memory impairment and neurodegeneration. Scopoletin (SCT) a phenolic coumarin, was dosed to swiss albino mice for 35 days at 2 dose levels (5 mg/kg i.p. and 10 mg/kg i.p.). OKA was administered stereotaxically on day 15. Memory was evaluated in terms of escape latency in morris water maze test. Oxidative stress parameters, TNF-alpha and acetylcholinesterase were measured in the brain tissue homogenates. Histopathological evaluation was carried out to study inflammatory and degenerative changes. SCT significantly reduced the time taken by the mice to find the hidden platform compared to the disease control group. MDA was reduced significantly while catalase and SOD activities and GSH content was increased significantly. Acetylcholinesterase was also significantly inhibited at both dose levels. SCT significantly reduced the meningeal infiltration of inflammatory cells infiltration and perivascular cuffing (infiltration of MNCs) in brain parenchyma and degeneration of neurons as compared to the disease control group.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, Scopoletin, Okadiac acid, Degeneration, Inflammation, Oxidative stress.