EFFECTS OF FOLIC ACID ON THE MEMORY AND SPATIAL LEARNING IN ALZHEIMER S MODEL RATS

Background and Aim: Hyperhomocysteinemia is a consequence of folic acid deficiency that contributes to the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease, stroke and possibly Alzheimer’s disease. In this study, we evaluated effects of treatment with folic acid on the memory and learning process.Methods: Thirty-five male rats were randomly allocated into five groups: Control, Lesion that received bilaterally lesion of Nucleus Basalis Magnocellularis (NBM) with electrically-induced (0.5mA, 3s), Sham that entering the electrode in the NBM without lesion, lesion NBM+15 mg/kg Folic Acid and Vehicle (lesion NBM+0.2ml Saline). folic acid and Saline were injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) 30 min after the lesion of NBM daily for one week. One week after the lesion of NBM, the rats were training with Y-maze task within five days. Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference between the Control and Lesion groups (P<0.001), Also comparison between control and sham groups indicated that there were no significant differences (P> 0.05) between these groups that suggested different stages of surgery including anesthesia and entering electrode without inducing any current, had no effect on spatial learning. Comparison between Lesion and Saline groups indicated that there were no significant differences (P> 0.05) between these groups that suggested Saline had no effect on spatial learning. Also comparison between Lesion and folic acid groups (P<0.01) suggesting that the injection of folic acid (15mg/kg) increased the memory and spatial learning.Conclusion: present findings showed that the mutual lesion of NBM has reduced the memory and spatial learning and folic acid helps in improving the memory and spatial learning.

کلیدواژه ها:

Folic Acid ، Hyperhomocysteinemia ، Nucleus Basalis Magnocellularis ، Spatial Learning