Faculty of Biomedical Sciences

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Browsing Faculty of Biomedical Sciences by Author "Jjesero Edward"

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    Effects and mechanisms of action of ethanol extract of warburgia ugandensis (sprague) stem bark on spatial memory in scopolamine-induced amnesic male wistar rats
    (2023-05) Jjesero Edward
    Background: The memory enhancing potential of stem bark Warburgia Ugandensis ethanol extract (SBWUEE) was evaluated on scopolamine-induced memory impairment in rats. Neurodegenerative disorders that lead to memory loss still have a high incidence of approximately 51.6 million people worldwide (Javaid et al., 2021) and ongoing studies are focusing on medicinal plants that possess cognition-enhancing properties for example Warburgia ugandensis stem barks are traditionally used to improve memory in Western Uganda (Musinguzi et al., 2017). The objective of this study was to determine the effect and mechanisms of action of ethanol extract of Warburgia ugandensis stem bark on memory in scopolamine-induced amnesic male Wistar rats. Methods: A toxicity study was conducted on Wistar rats classified SBWUEE extracts as non-cytotoxic and showed a lethal dose (oral) of (LD50) >5000 mg/kg body weight; to show that it can be used with minimal health risks. To evaluate spatial memory retention, the Morris water maze swimming test was performed to measure escape latency time (in seconds). The activity of acetylcholinestrase enzyme was determined using the Ellman method (Seyed et al., 2018) while lipid peroxidation estimated as TBARS determined using malondialdehyde (MDA) and followed the thiobarbituric acid reaction of Mihara and Uchiyama (Tabari et al., 2016). To assess activity of catalase enzyme, the method by Beer and Sizer was used (Nigam et al., 2019). For hippocampus histology, sliced sections were stained following Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining technique for general cyto-achitecture, mounted, then photographed using an optical microscope. Results: Scopolamine treatment increased the escape latency time but post-treatment with SBWUEE decreased the escape latency time (42 + 5.0sec) of 50mg/kg, 40 ± 5.0sec of 100mg/kg and 36 ± 8.0sec of 200mg/kg on day 4). The SBWUEE reduced the acetylcholinesterase level in the hippocampus of scopolamine-injected rats (p < 0.0001 for all groups) by 60.9%. Scopolamine injection significantly depleted the antioxidant activities in hippocampal tissue, that is catalase activity (p<0.0001), malondialdehyde (p<0.0001), but these changes were reversed by SBWUEE treatment. H&E staining illustrated extract’s neuroprotective effect, SBWUEE at 100mg/kg and 200 mg/kg showed significant repair of pyramidal cells. Conclusions: These results showed that SBWUEE attenuated the learning and memory impairment that was induced by scopolamine, improved memory impairment by inhibiting AchE, reduced antioxidation in catalase activity and MDA, while neurogenesis that had been altered was recovered by SBWUEE. The study findings suggest that SBWUEE could be a potent pharmacological drug against memory loss, and its possible mechanism might be through modulating cholinergic activity. Recommendations: A detailed study is recommended to elucidate the possible mechanism of action of memory enhancement of stem bark Warburgia ugandensis ethanol extract (SBWUEE).