Mitragyna speciosa Korth. leaves have been traditionally used by Malay and Thai natives for its opiumlike effect and coca-like stimulant ability to enhance tolerance for hard work. Mitragynine is the major indole alkaloid in this plant. In the present study, we investigated the effects of the alkaloid extract of M. speciosa leaves and its major alkaloid mitragynine on exploratory behaviour, sho...

Background and Objective: Intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection of streptozotocin (STZ) causes cognitive impairment in rats. The beneficial effect of saffron main component, safranal was investigated on ICV STZ-induced learning, memory, and cognitive impairment in male rats. Materials and Methods: For this purpose, rats were injected with ICV STZ bilaterally, on days 1 and 3 (3 mg/kg). The ST...

Little is known of the age-dependent and long-term consequences of low exposure levels of the herbicide and dopaminergic toxicant, paraquat. Thus, we assessed the dose-dependent effects of paraquat using a typical short-term (3 week) exposure procedure, followed by an assessment of the effects of chronic (16 weeks) exposure to a very low dose (1/10th of what previously induced dopaminergic neur...

BACKGROUND The present investigation deals with the assessment of neuroprotective effect Amorphophallus campanulatus (AC) tuber in alzheimer diseased (AD) rat and also postulates its possible mechanism of action. MATERIAL AND METHODS AD was induced by administering streptozotocin i.e. STZ (3 mg/kg, ICV) day one and 3rd day after surgery. Surgery was performed on anesthetized rats by the help ...

In Pavlovian conditioning, an originally neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus or CS) gains control over an animal's reflex after its association with a biologically relevant stimulus (unconditioned stimulus or US). As a consequence, a conditioned response is emitted by the animal upon further CS presentations. In such a situation, the subject exhibits a reflex response, so that whether the CS...

With the exception of honeybees, there have been few good invertebrate models for associative learning. Grasshoppers and locusts (Orthoptera: Acrididae) possess a number of characteristics that make them excellent candidates for such studies, and in this paper we present a novel protocol, based on a Y-maze, that is specifically designed for studying their learning and choice behaviour. Three se...

BACKGROUND Sleep deprivation negatively impacts memory, causing deficits in memory processes. Of interest is any agent that can offset such deficits. Mice were given varying doses of caffeine for 14 days and then deprived of sleep for 6 hours by the 'gentle handling' method. Memory was assessed using the Novel Object Recognition Test and Y maze alternation. PURPOSE The study was designed to a...

This study set out to assess the neurobehavioral effects of subchronic, oral bromocriptine methanesulfonate using the open field and the Y-maze in healthy male mice. Sixty adult Swiss albino mice were assigned into three groups. Controls received normal saline, while test groups received bromocriptine methanesulfonate at 2.5 and 5 mg/kg/day, respectively, for a period of 21 days. Neurobehaviora...

Cognitive impairment is a result of dementia of diverse causes, such as cholinergic dysfunction and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Houttuynia cordata Thunb. (Saururaceae) has long been used as a traditional herbal medicine. It has biological activities including protective effects against amyloid beta (Aβ) toxicity, via regulation of calcium homeostasis, in rat hippocampal cells. To extend previous ...

The aim of this study is to assess the convenience of exploring longterm synergistic effects when multiple AD therapeutics of different mechanisms, fundamental and symptomatic, are combined. Methods: As a symptomatic drug, we selected donepezil, which have significant clinical benefits by activating undamaged cholinergic systems. From our previous study, as a fundamental drug, we prepared a sma...