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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter August 15, 2014

Evaluation of potential antiamnesic activities of aqueous extract of Vitex trifolia leaves against scopolamine induced amnesia and in normal rats

  • Amberkar Vittal Rao Mohanbabu , Meena Kumari Kamal Kishore EMAIL logo , Bangalore Revanna Chandrashekar , Hoskeri Dakappa Pradeepa , Rockson Christopher and Purnanand Banawalikar Nandit

Abstract

Background: The goal of this study was to evaluate the cerebroprotective and cognition-enhancing activities of the aqueous Vitex trifolia (Vt) L. (Verbenaceae) leaf extract against scopolamine-induced amnesia and in normal rats.

Methods: Reference or working memory and long-term memory in rodents were tested by experimental paradigms like passive avoidance (PA) and T-maze (TM), respectively. TM and Morris water maze (MWM) were used to screen putative spatial or localization task and the navigation memory-enhancing activities of Vt extract, respectively. In both the PA and TM models, scopolamine (0.5 mg/kg, intraperitoneal, 30 min prior to the trial) was used to induce amnesia, and donepezil (3 mg/kg/day for 15 days) was used as a standard antiamnesic drug. In MWM, two doses of Vt extract were tested against normal control rats. The aqueous Vt extract was prepared as a suspension in 0.5% carboxymethyl cellulose and administered orally at two doses (10 and 20 mg/kg/day) for 15 days to the respective group of rats.

Results: The higher dose (20 mg/kg) of plant extract exhibited significant (p<0.01) antiamnesic activity in the PA and TM models vs. the control. In the MWM test, at probe trial, Vt extract 20 mg/kg showed the least escape latency time, which was statistically significant (p<0.01) and exhibited maximum percentage of time spent in the probe quadrant by 60.75%.

Conclusions: These results partly substantiate the traditional use of Vt leaves for improvement of cognition, indicating that daily administration of Vt leaves differentially could modulate short- and long-term learning and memory in rats probably through its battery of anticholinesterase, procholinergic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroprotective activities.


Corresponding author: Dr. Meena Kumari Kamal Kishore, Department of Pharmacology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India, E-mail:

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Department of Pharmacology, KMC, Manipal, Manipal University, India.

Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

Research funding: None declared.

Employment or leadership: None declared.

Honorarium: None declared.

Competing interests: The funding organization(s) played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the report for publication.

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Received: 2014-1-4
Accepted: 2014-6-19
Published Online: 2014-8-15
Published in Print: 2015-3-1

©2014 by De Gruyter

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