Effect of ferulic acid on learning and memory impairments of vascular dementia rats and its mechanism of action.
- Author:
Yun LUO
1
;
Hai-Ping ZHAO
;
Jing ZHANG
;
Jie WANG
;
Wu-Liang YANG
;
Ming YANG
;
Zheng-Gen LIAO
Author Information
1. Key Laboratory of Modern Preparation of TCM, Ministry of Education, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, China.
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- MeSH:
Acetylcholinesterase;
metabolism;
Animals;
Anticoagulants;
pharmacology;
therapeutic use;
Coumaric Acids;
pharmacology;
therapeutic use;
Dementia, Vascular;
metabolism;
physiopathology;
Glutamic Acid;
metabolism;
Hippocampus;
metabolism;
Male;
Malondialdehyde;
metabolism;
Maze Learning;
drug effects;
Memory;
drug effects;
Memory Disorders;
drug therapy;
Random Allocation;
Rats;
Rats, Sprague-Dawley;
Superoxide Dismutase;
metabolism
- From:
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica
2012;47(2):256-260
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
This study is to investigate the effect of ferulic acid on learning and memory impairments of vascular dementia (VD) rats and its mechanism of action. VD rats model was replicated by permanent bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (2VO). The learning and memory capability of VD rats was evaluated by Morris water maze. The activity of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the content of glutamic acid (Glu) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in hippocampus of VD rats' brain were determined, separately. The results showed that ferulic acid could alleviate learning and memory deficits of VD rats significantly. Ferulic acid was found to inhibit the activity of AChE and increased the activity of SOD in rat hippocampus. In addition, ferulic acid could also decrease the content of Glu and MDA in rat hippocampus. These results suggested that ferulic acid could alleviate VD rats' learning and memory deficits, which might be due to antioxidation, the improvement of cholinergic system in brain, or the inhibitory of nerve injury by excitatory amino acids.