Effects of Nano-Chitosan Loaded with Donepezil on Ethanol Induced Amnesia in Swiss-type Mice

Background: Progressive neurodegeneration of nervous system as well as learning and memory disorders is characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease. Drug delivery is one of the research aspects for improving treatment of diseases. Chitosan nanoparticles were used for Donepezil transportation and its effect on dimproving amnesia was investigated. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 136 NMRI mice weighing 30-40 mg were used. All injections were done intraperitoneally. The first experiment aimed to determine the optimal dose of ethanol for inducing amnesia, the second experiment was performed to prove nano-chitosan loaded with Donepezil (0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1 mg/kg) does not impair memory, and the third experiment assessed the effect of nano-chitosan loaded with different doses of Donepezil on amnesia induced by ethanol. Data were recorded as mean ± SD, analyzed in GraphPad Prism software using ANOVA and Tukey post hoc test. P<0.05 was considered as significant.     Results: The first experiment showed that ethanol (0.5, 0.75, 1 mg/kg) could significantly induce amnesia. The second experiment showed nano-chitosan loaded with Donepezil doid not impair memory. The third experiment showed that all nano-chitosan groups loaded with different doses of Donepezil could significantly improve amnesia induced by ethanol. Conclusion: Chitosan nanoparticles used in this study can efficiently be used for drug delivery. However, further research should be done on this compound before it can be used for oral drug transportation.