Gugijihwang-Tang (the herbal formula PM012), a decoction consisting of several herbs including Rehmanniae Radix Preparata, has been widely used as herbal treatment for dementia. In order to investigate the neuroprotective action of this prescription, we examined the effect of Gugijihwang-Tang on learning and memory using the Morris water maze and [F-18]FDG micro PET neuroimaging technique. Afte...

The Barnes maze is one of the main behavioral tasks used to study spatial learning and memory. The Barnes maze is a task conducted on "dry land" in which animals try to escape from a brightly lit exposed circular open arena to a small dark escape box located under one of several holes at the periphery of the arena. In comparison with another classical spatial learning and memory task, the Morri...

Introduction: Ascorbic acid (AA) acts as an antioxidant in the Central nervous system (CNS) of the mammalians. It is released from the some nerve ending together with neurotransmitters. The results have shown that Ascorbic acid could affect learning as well as memory. In this study, we examined the effect of ICV injection of ascorbic acid on learning and memory by Morris water maze. Method: In...

Esculetin, a hydroxycoumarin, has been reported to have neuroprotective action against several neurotoxins. Aluminum, nonessential element and potent neurotoxin, suggested link with the etiology progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this experiment, possible role esculetin on aluminium chloride mediated cognitive impairments in rats was investigated. Rats were orally treated aluminum (100...

Background and Objective: A great body of evidences suggested a marked elevation of endogenous opioid levels in plasma of animals with acute cholestasis. Endogenous opioids are implicated in the pathophysiology of cholestasis. Also, many studies have shown that endogenous opioids modulate memory processes. To clarify possible role of endogenous opioid receptors in information processing in acut...

Assessment of molecular defects that underlie cognitive deficits observed in mendelian disorders provides a unique opportunity to identify key regulators of human cognition. Congenital Myotonic Dystrophy 1 (cDM1), a multi-system disorder is characterized by both cognitive deficits and a spectrum of behavioral abnormalities, which include visuo-spatial memory deficits, anxiety and apathy. Decrea...

Introduction: Previous studies have shown that vitamin A and its derivatives such as retinoid and all-trans retinoic acid have a crucial role in memory, learning and synaptic plasticity. The receptors of vitamin A are seen in different parts of the brain such as hippocampus, where vitamin A has an important role in learning. In this study, the effect of intrahippocampal (CA1) injection of al...