THE EFFECT OF TAURINE ON CAPABILITY OF LEARNING AND MEMORY IN AlZHEIMER DISEASE MODEL RAT

Objective To investigate the effect of taurine on capability of learning and memory in Alzheimer disease(AD) rats. MethodsEighty-four male SD rats were evenly randomized to control group,sham-operation group,AD model group,positive-control group,high-dose-,moderate-dose-and low-dose-taurine groups.The rats in normal group,sham-operation group and model group were given normal saline;those in positive-control group were given Huperzine A(0.16 mg·kg-1·d-1);and those in high-dose-,moderate-dose-and low-dose-taurine groups were offered taurine,600,400 and 200 mg·kg-1·d-1,respectively.The medicine in all groups was administered intragastrically.Ten days after medication,5 μL Aβ1-40 was injected into the right hippocampus of the rats in the three taurine groups,and commensurable phosphate buffered solution(0.01 mol/L) was injected into the same site of rats in sham-operation group.No treatment was done for the control group.Morris maze experiment was used to test the learning and memory ability,and the levels of acetylcholine(Ach),acetylcholinesterase(AChE),choline acetyltransterase(ChAT),superoxide dismutase(SOD),malonaldehyde(MDA) and glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px) in hippocampus were measured. ResultsCompared with the AD model group,the escape latency in positive-control group and the taurine groups was significantly shorter(F=2.20,q=4.13-4.52,P0.05),the times of traversing platform and the swimming time in the third quadrant increased evidently(F=2.78,2.56;q=3.74-4.38;P0.05),the contentof of Ach and the activity of ChAT,SOD,and GSH-Px elevated(F=2.22-3.38,q=3.41-4.25,P0.05).The activity of AChE and the content of MDA declined(F=5.13,5.04;q=3.27-4.46;P0.05). ConclusionTaurine can obviously improve the capability of learning and memory in Alzheimer-disease-like model rats,the mechanism is probably associated with the antioxidation of taurine and improvment of the function of cholinergic system.