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Effect of ethanolic extract of Acacia auriculiformis leaves on learning and memory in rats

1★, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3★ Corresponding author

  1. 1Department of Pharmacology, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Puducherry
  2. 2Melaka Malaysian Medical College, Manipal
  3. 3Kasturba Medical College

CORRESPONDENCE

Ajitha Sharma

Department of Pharmacology, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Puducherry

drajithasharma@gmail.com

Volume 6, Issue 3 · pp. 246-250 · 2014 · DOI: 10.4103/0974-8490.132605

ABSTRACT

The effects and benefits of Acacia auriculiformis on health are not well established. This study was planned to evaluate the effect of ethanolic extract of Acacia auriculiformis leaves on learning and memory in rats. Learning and memory were evaluated using passive avoidance paradigm and rewarded alternation test (T-maze) after the oral administration of two doses (200mg/kg and 400mg/kg) of ethanolic extract of Acacia auriculiformis with rivastigmine as positive control. Forty eight rats were divided into 4 groups in each study model. Estimation of brain cholinesterase activity was done to substantiate the results of the above mentioned tests. Data was analyzed using one way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey’s post-hoc test using GraphPad InStat software, version 3.06. The extract produced a dose-dependent improvement in the memory score namely the step through latency in passive avoidance model (P < 0.001) and the percentage of correct responses in rewarded alternation test (P < 0.05). Dose-dependent inhibition of brain cholinesterase activity (P < 0.001) was also noted. The acetylcholinesterase inhibiting property of Acacia auriculiformis contributes to its memory enhancing potential. Further large scale studies are required to elucidate its benefits on cognitive function. This may offer a promising new option for the treatment of dementia and other cognitive deficits.

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    Sharma, A., Shetty, M., Parida, A., Adiga, S., Kamath, S., & Sowjanya (2014). Effect of ethanolic extract of Acacia auriculiformis leaves on learning and memory in rats. Pharmacognosy Research, 6(3), 246-250. https://doi.org/10.4103/0974-8490.132605

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    © 2014 Author(s)

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0