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Royal jelly improves learning and memory deficits in an amyloid β-induced model of Alzheimer's disease in male rats: Involvement of oxidative stress

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Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) as the commonest type of dementia is associated with the cognitive function failure. Oxidative stress performs an essential role in the progression of AD. Royal jelly (RJ) is a natural product of bees with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The present research aimed to investigate the possible protective effect of RJ on learning and memory in a rat model of Aβ-induced AD. Forty male adult Wistar rats were equally distributed into five groups: control, sham-operated, Aβ (receiving intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection of amyloid beta (Aβ1–40)), Aβ + RJ 50 mg/kg, and Aβ + RJ 100 mg/kg. RJ was administered daily post-surgery by oral gavage for four weeks. Behavioral learning and memory were examined using the novel object recognition (NOR) and passive avoidance learning (PAL) tests. Also, oxidative stress markers, such as malondialdehyde (MDA), total oxidant status (TOS) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC), were assessed in the hippocampus. Aβ reduced step-through latency (STLr) and increased time spent in the dark compartment (TDC) in the PAL task and also decreased discrimination index in the NOR test. Administration of RJ ameliorated the Aβ-related memory impairment in both NOR and PAL tasks. Aβ decreased TAC and increased MDA and TOS levels in the hippocampus, whereas RJ administration reversed these Aβ-induced alterations. Our results indicated that RJ has the potential to ameliorate learning and memory impairment in the Aβ model of AD via attenuating oxidative stress.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This study has been supported by a grant (Grant number: 9802241456) from the Neurophysiology Research Centre of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neurophysiology Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran

    Safoura Raoufi, Zahra Salavati, Alireza Komaki, Siamak Shahidi & Mohammad Zarei

  2. Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran

    Safoura Raoufi, Zahra Salavati, Alireza Komaki, Siamak Shahidi & Mohammad Zarei

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  1. Safoura Raoufi
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Contributions

Safoura Raoufi: Study supervision, designing the study, defining the aims, conceptualization, generating graphs, writing- reviewing and editing of the manuscript, supervising the experiment performing and result analyzing.

Zahra Salavati: Conceptualization, Data acquisition, Statistical analysis.

Alireza Komaki: Study supervision, Manuscript writing and revision, data acquisition.

Siamak Shahidi: Statistical analysis and interpretation.

Mohammad Zarei: Data acquisition, Statistical analysis.

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Correspondence to Zahra Salavati.

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Animal care and all experimental procedures were in accordance with the Hamadan University of Medical Sciences Ethics Committee and were performed in line with the National Institute of Health Guidelines for Care and Use of laboratory animals(NIH Publication 80–23, 1996).

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Raoufi, S., Salavati, Z., Komaki, A. et al. Royal jelly improves learning and memory deficits in an amyloid β-induced model of Alzheimer's disease in male rats: Involvement of oxidative stress. Metab Brain Dis 38, 1239–1248 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-023-01168-9

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