Publication:

Cognitive enhancing and ex-vivo antioxidant effects of the Phytexponent of selected medicinal plant preparation.

Alzheimer’s disease, characterized by the dysfunction in cognitive function of the brain such as loss of memory accounts for the largest disease in the dementia condition. The management of this disease involves the use of the conventional drugs that inhibit the activity of the acetylcholine esterase enzyme or some antagonists of an N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA). On addition to the high cost, the side effects and toxic effects have been associated with these drugs. Also, these drugs have been reported to only manage the symptoms since the cure for the Alzheimer’s disease is not yet known. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been linked with aberrant extracellular proteins misfolding oxidative stress, acetylcholine deficiency in the brain, and inflammatory processes. Some attention has been laid on plants as source of the natural antioxidants that have the ability to reduce the effects of oxidative stress and in increase antioxidant defense levels. In this study the cognitive enhancing and exvivo antioxidant effects of the phytexponent preparation in the scopolamine induced memory impairment in swiss albino mice was investigated. The passive avoidance task was used to evaluate the cognitive enhancing activity while the standard biochemical protocols were adopted for determination of the antioxidant enzymes activity. Donepezil was used as the standard drug. The results showed that administration of the scopolamine (1mg/kg bw) significantly affected learning in the swiss albino mice reducing the latency time for entering the shock stimuli compartment. The phytoexponent preparation reduced the effect of scopolamine in a dose depended manner with the higher dose (50 mg/kg) restoring the learning in the swiss albino mice more among the treatment dose levels. The normal control recorded the highest learning ability as compared to all the other groups. The administration of the scopolamine significantly affected the activity of catalase in the brain tissues of the mice in the negative control by reducing the activity of the catalase to degrade hydrogen peroxide (p<0.05). The administration of the phytoexponent at the three study dose levels significantly reduced the concentration of the hydrogen peroxide in the brain tissues of the swiss albino mice in a dose depended manner. The phytoexponent preparation at dose level 50 mg/kg bw significantly increased the catalase activity by recording the least concentration of hydrogen peroxide in the brain tissues (p<0.05). Similarly, the administration of the phytexponent at the different study dose levels increased the glutathione levels in the brain tissues of the swiss albino mice in a dose depended manner. The phytexponent at the higher dose (50 mg/kg bw) significantly recorded higher levels of glutathione (p<0.05). The administration of the scopolamine significantly reduced the glutathione levels in the brain tissues. In conclusion the phytexponent can be used as a potential cognitive enhancer and as well as an antioxidant agent.