Effects of taurine on spatial memory of rats exposed to manganese chloride

OBJECTIVE To explore the effect of taurine on spatial memory of rats exposed to manganese chloride(MnCl2).METHODS(1) Pretreatment experiment: the rats were ip given taurine 200 mg·kg-1 together with MnCl2·4H2O 15 mg·kg-1 once daily for 4 weeks.(2) Taurine treatment experiment: the rats in taurine treatment group were ip given taurine 200 mg·kg-1 for another 4 weeks after given MnCl2·4H2O 15 mg·kg-1 for 4 weeks.The spatial learning ability was evaluated with the average escape latency to the platform when rats were placed randomly into the swimming pool on the first 5 d.The spatial memory ability was evaluated by the times crossing the target platform on the sixth day.Hippocampus was collected to detect the activity of acetylcholine esterase(AChE) and choline O-acetyltransferase(ChAT).RESULTS(1) Pretreatment experiment: compared with normal control group(29.5±2.5)s,the escape latency in MnCl2 exposed group markedly prolonged to(39.8±2.3)s(P0.05),compared with MnCl2 exposure group,the escape latency in taurine pretment group significantly decreased to(29.4±2.3)s(P0.05).There was no significant difference in AChE and ChAT activities between normal control and MnCl2 exposure group.Pretreatment with taurine could decrease AChE activity significantly compared with MnCl2 exposure group(P0.05).(2) Taurine treatment experiment: there was no significant difference in escapy latency and the times crossing the target platform between MnCl2 exposure group and taurine treatment group.The activities of AChE and ChAT were increased in taurine group compared with MnCl2 exposure group(P0.05).CONCLUSION Taurine can improve the impaired spatial learning ability induced by MnCl2,possibly related to the acetylcholine content.