Psychiatry and Psychiatric Disorders

Biography

Biography: Maryam Masood

Abstract

Background: Memory and learning impairment in neurodegenerative disorders has been attributed to underlying perturbation in cholinergic system. Turmeric, a potent anti-inflammatory compound, like donepezil, has shown to have sound effect on cholinergic system improving memory and learning. Aim: In the current study, we intended to elucidate the effect of turmeric alone and in synergism with donepezil on scopolamine induced amnesic moue model. Methods: BALB/c mice were administrated scopolamine (1 mg/Kg/day) through sub cutaneous injections for a period of 26 days. On 11 day, Donepezil (4 mg/Kg/day) and Turmeric (20 mg/Kg/day) was given mixed in feed. Novel recognition test, fear contextual and fear conditioning test, a memory tests were performed to evaluate memory consolidation and acquisition. RT-PCR was used to measure the mRNA expression of M1, M3, and M5 receptors of cortex and amygdala. Results: Turmeric significantly (p<0.01) improved the expression of cholinergic muscarinic receptors M1 (0.67±0.06), M3 (1.23±0.30) and M5 (2.66±0.52) in turmeric treated group as compared to scopolamine-induced amnesia group (0.34±0.07, 0.49±0.03 and 1.53±0.14) respectively in cortex. The impairment in cortex dependent learning and memory was inverted in scopolamine-induced amnesia group as evident from improvement in fear conditioning (p<0.001), contextual (p<0.001) and fear extinction (p<0.001) in turmeric treated group as compared to scopolamine-induced amnesia group. Recognition memory was also improved (p<0.001) following turmeric administration as compared to scopolamine-induced amnesia, once again showing turmeric’s positive effect. Conclusion: Therefore in the light of these findings turmeric may serve as a potential candidate in improving cognitive functions. It can also act as a therapeutic option for neurodegenerative disorders.