Effect of co-administration of donepezil and folic acid on spatial memory impairment in adult male rat model of Alzheimer's disease

Background: Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that is diagnosed with a lack of memory and perception.Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of donepezil and folic acid on reference and working memory disorders caused by electrical lesion of nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM).Methods: In this experimental study, 49 adult male Wistar rats were divided into 7 groups: control and, nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) lesion group.which received electrically-induced lesion (0.5 mA, 3 s) in NBM, sham group (the electrode was impaled in to the nucleus basalis magnocellularis with no lesion), donepezil group (lesion + donepezil 0.1 mg/kg), folic acid group (lesion + folic acid 5 mg), interaction group (lesion + donepezil-folic acid) and vehicle group (lesion + saline).Acquisition and retention tests were done by using an eight-radial arm maze task.Findings: Results showed that there was a significant difference between control and lesion groups (P<0.05).Combination treatment with donepezil and folic acid improved the parameters of spatial memory errors in the acquisition and retention tasks comparing to the control group (P˂0.05). Conclusion:The degradation of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis caused to increase reference and working memory errors.Also the co-administration of donepezil and folic acid leaded to a reduction in these errors and improved spatial memory of the rat.