Sarlak Zeynab, Oryan Shahrbanoo, Moghaddasi Mehrnoush
Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Razi Herbal Medicines Research Center, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khoramabad, Iran.
Iran J Basic Med Sci. 2015 Apr;18(4):398-403.
The cholinergic system plays an important role in learning and memory. This study investigated the effects of curcumin (turmeric extract) and the cholinergic system and their interaction on memory retention of passive avoidance learning in adult male Wistar rats.
At first, an injection cannula was implanted in right ventricles of the animals. One week after the surgery, the animals were trained with a shuttle box set up. Post-training, injections were performed in all experiments. Administration of curcumin increased memory retention. Also administrations of nicotine and pilocarpine, the cholinergic receptor agonists, increased memory retention, while it is decreased by succinylcholine and scopolamine, the cholinergic receptor antagonists. Then co-administration of curcumin and cholinergic drugs were performed. Intraperitoneal and intracerebroventricular injections were applied for the curcumin and cholinergic drugs, respectively.
Co-administration of curcumin (45 mg/kg) with a low dose of nicotine (0.1 µg/rat) or pilocarpine (0.5 µg/rat) increased memory retention significantly. Effects of succinylcholine (0.01, 0.1 and 0.5 µg/rat) or scopolamine (0.1, 1 and 5 µg/rat) were attenuated by curcumin markedly (45 mg/kg).
The results suggest that curcumin has a close interaction with cholinergic system in memory retention process.
胆碱能系统在学习和记忆中发挥重要作用。本研究调查了姜黄素（姜黄提取物）对胆碱能系统的影响及其相互作用对成年雄性Wistar大鼠被动回避学习记忆保持的作用。
首先，在动物的右心室植入注射套管。手术后一周，用穿梭箱对动物进行训练。训练后，在所有实验中进行注射。给予姜黄素可提高记忆保持能力。给予胆碱能受体激动剂尼古丁和毛果芸香碱也可提高记忆保持能力，而胆碱能受体拮抗剂琥珀酰胆碱和东莨菪碱则会降低记忆保持能力。然后将姜黄素与胆碱能药物联合给药。姜黄素和胆碱能药物分别采用腹腔注射和脑室内注射。
姜黄素（45毫克/千克）与低剂量尼古丁（0.1微克/只大鼠）或毛果芸香碱（0.5微克/只大鼠）联合给药可显著提高记忆保持能力。姜黄素（45毫克/千克）可显著减弱琥珀酰胆碱（0.01、0.1和0.5微克/只大鼠）或东莨菪碱（0.1、1和5微克/只大鼠）的作用。
结果表明，姜黄素在记忆保持过程中与胆碱能系统有密切的相互作用。
