IMR Press / JIN / Volume 20 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.31083/j.jin.2021.01.378
Open Access Original Research
Punicalagin effect on total sleep deprivation memory deficit in male Wistar rats
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1 Cognitive and Neuroscience Research Center (CNRC), Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, 18116-94784 Tehran, Iran
2 Institute for Cognitive Science Studies (ICSS), 16583-44575 Tehran, Iran
3 Department of Anatomical Sciences & Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, 19395-1495 Tehran, Iran
*Correspondence: szarrabian@gmail.com; szarrabian@iautmu.ac.ir (Shahram Zarrabian)
J. Integr. Neurosci. 2021, 20(1), 87–93; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.jin.2021.01.378
Submitted: 8 October 2020 | Revised: 21 December 2020 | Accepted: 23 February 2021 | Published: 30 March 2021
Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Abstract

Sleep deprivation has deteriorating effects on cognitive functions and activation of brain inflammation mechanisms has been reported by some studies following total sleep deprivation. Some studies have reported the health benefits of punicalagin, a main abstract from Punica granatum L., including those for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The antioxidant characteristic of punicalagin and the fact that sleep deprivation accelerates mediators of inflammation led us to further explore the possible neuroprotective role of punicalagin in total sleep deprivation memory impairment in a rat model. In this study, male Wistar rats were implanted with a canula in the lateral ventricle to receive intracerebroventricular injections (drug or vehicle). The animals were trained for the passive avoidance test and then received intracerebroventricular injections of different doses of punicalagin (0.001, 0.01, or 0.1 μg/rat). Then, they were placed in the sleep deprivation apparatus for 24 hours and tested afterwards for memory retrieval and locomotion. Our results indicated that 24 hours of total sleep deprivation impaired memory processes. PG microinjection before TSD did not prevent the deteriorating effect of total sleep deprivation on memory, and only showed a tendency of restoring the memory impairment. Comparison of the locomotor activity between the animals in different groups showed a significant increase in the total sleep deprivation sham groups that received two of the highest doses of punicalagin. Considering the reported beneficial actions of PG by other studies, further investigation is needed into the possible effects of PG in memory alterations.

Keywords
Punicalagin (PG)
Total sleep deprivation (TSD)
Memory deficit
Male rats
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