Deprenyl and the Relationship
Between Its Effects on Spatial Memory, Oxidant Stress and
Hippocampal Neurons in Aged Male Rats
M. KIRAY, H.A. BAGRIYANIK, C. PEKCETIN, B.U.
ERGUR, N. UYSAL1,
D. OZYURT, Z. BULDAN
Departments of Histology and Embryology and 1Physiology, Dokuz
Eylul University Medical School, Balcova, Izmir, Turkey
Received December 13, 2004
Accepted April 27, 2005
On-line May 24, 2005
Summary
Oxidative stress may play a major role in the aging process and
associated cognitive decline. Therefore, antioxidant treatment
may alleviate age-related impairment in spatial memory.
Cognitive impairment could also involve the age-related
morphological alterations of the hippocampal formation. The aim
of this study was to examine the relationship between the
effects of deprenyl, an irreversible monoamine-oxidase B
inhibitor, on spatial memory by oxidant stress and on the total
number of neurons in the hippocampus CA1 region of aged male
rats. In this study, 24-month-old male rats were used. Rats were
divided into control and experimental groups which received an
injection of deprenyl for 21 days. Learning experiments were
performed for six days in the Morris water maze. Spatial
learning was significantly better in deprenyl-treated rats
compared to saline-treated rats. Deprenyl treatment elicited a
significant decrease of lipid peroxidation in the prefrontal
cortex, striatum and hippocampus regions and a significant
increase of glutathione peroxidase activity in the prefrontal
cortex and hippocampus. It was observed that deprenyl had no
effect on superoxide dismutase activity. The total number of
neurons in the hippocampus CA1 region was significantly higher
in the deprenyl group than in the control group. In conclusion,
we demonstrated that deprenyl increases spatial memory
performance in aged male rats and this increase may be related
to suppression of lipid peroxidation and alleviation of the
age-related decrease of the number of neurons in the
hippocampus. The results of such studies may be useful in
pharmacological alleviation of the aging process.
Key words
Deprenyl • Aging • Spatial memory • Lipid peroxidation •
Antioxidant enzymes • Hippocampus
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