The Effect of Aqueous Crocus sativus L. Extract on Intracerebroventricular Streptozotocin-induced Cognitive Deficits in Rat: a Behavioral Analysis

Intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection of streptozotocin (STZ) causes cognitive impairment in rats. The beneficial effect of Crocus sativus L. extract (CSE) was evaluated on ICV STZ-induced learning, memory, and cognitive impairment in male rats. For this purpose, rats were injected with ICV STZ bilaterally, on days 1 and 3 (3 mg/kg). The STZ-injected rats received CSE (60 mg/kg; i.p.) every other day, starting one day before surgery, for three weeks. The learning and memory performance was assessed using passive avoidance paradigm, and for spatial cognition evaluation, Y-maze task was used. It was found that CSE-treated STZ-injected rats show higher correct choices and lower errors in Y maze than vehicle-treated STZ-injected rats. In addition, CSE administration significantly attenuated learning and memory impairment in treated STZ-injected group in passive avoidance test. Therefore, these results demonstrate the effectiveness of CSE in preventing the cognitive deficits caused by ICV STZ in rats and its potential in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD).