Harandi Shaahin, Golchin Leila, Ansari Mehdi, Moradi Alireza, Shabani Mohammad, Sheibani Vahid
Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
Pharmaceutics Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
Basic Clin Neurosci. 2015 Apr;6(2):91-9.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disease, which impairs memory and cognitive function. Walnuts are a dietary source of polyphenols, antioxidants and other compounds with health beneficial effects. These characteristic of walnuts make them perfect candidates for evaluation of their possible effects on neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore the present study was designed to investigate the effects of walnuts consumption (2%, 6% and 9% walnut diets) on memory enhancement and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity of brain in scopolamine-induced amnesic rats.
Learning, memory and locomotor activity parameters were evaluated using Morris water maze (MWM), passive avoidance and rotarod tests.
Our results showed that consumption of walnuts at doses of 6% and 9% significantly restored the scopolamine-induced memory impairments in the MWM and passive avoidance tests. Moreover, the potential of walnuts to prevent scopolamine neurotoxicity was also reflected by the decreased AChE activity in the whole brain in comparison with the scopolamine group.
These results suggest that walnuts may be useful against memory impairment and it may exert these anti-amnesic activities via inhibition of AChE activity in the brain. It would be worthwhile to explore the potential of this nut and its active components in the management of the AD.
阿尔茨海默病（AD）是一种与年龄相关的神经退行性疾病，会损害记忆和认知功能。核桃是多酚、抗氧化剂及其他具有健康益处化合物的饮食来源。核桃的这些特性使其成为评估其对神经退行性疾病可能影响的理想候选物。因此，本研究旨在调查食用核桃（2%、6%和9%核桃饮食）对东莨菪碱诱导的失忆大鼠记忆增强及脑内乙酰胆碱酯酶（AChE）活性的影响。
使用莫里斯水迷宫（MWM）、被动回避和转棒试验评估学习、记忆和运动活动参数。
我们的结果表明，6%和9%剂量的核桃消费显著恢复了东莨菪碱在MWM和被动回避试验中诱导的记忆障碍。此外，与东莨菪碱组相比，全脑AChE活性降低也反映了核桃预防东莨菪碱神经毒性的潜力。
这些结果表明，核桃可能对记忆障碍有益，并且可能通过抑制脑内AChE活性发挥这些抗失忆活性。探索这种坚果及其活性成分在AD管理中的潜力将是值得的。
