Influence of dietary substances on recognition memory in Albino mice

The present investigation was designed to evaluate the effects of dietary substances such as Saccharin (100 mg/kg, p.o), Turmeric (1g/kg, p.o) and Transfat (2%, p.o) on recognition memory in albino mice by employing Y maze test. The test mice were treated with the above dietary substances for a period of 30 days. Control mice received distilled water, p.o for 30 days. Standard mice received cerebroactive drug Donepezil (1mg/kg, p.o) for 30 days. The assessment of memory commences on 31^st day by placing each mouse in the centre of the Y maze apparatus for 5 minutes and the memory parameters like spontaneous alteration performance (SAP), alternate arm return (AAR) and same arm return (SAR) were recorded. SAP which is a measure of memory was found to be lower with transfat (15±0.01) and saccharin (14±1.21) when compared to control mice (20±0.12) indicating loss of memory with transfat and saccharin. Turmeric treated mice displayed a significant increase in SAP (30±0.75) than the control mice indicating memory enhancing potential of turmeric. However SAP of donepezil treated mice was found to be more (34±0.04) than the turmeric treated mice.