Neuroprotective activity of aerial parts of Aeschynomene indica L. against scopolamine-induced memory impairment in rats

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia and death. The initial symptom is a gradually falling ability to remember new information. Aeschynomene indica L. belongs to the family Leguminoseae and there is a lack of scientific reports regarding its aerial parts on memory improvement. Hence our study was to investigate the ameliorative role of the extract of aerial parts of A. indica against scopolamine-induced Alzheimer type disease in rats. The rats were divided into five groups, with six animals each. Elevated plus maze and light and dark apparatus were used to assess learning memory and acquisition memory, and an actophotometer was used to assess locomotor activity. In addition, biochemical parameters were also estimated. The hippocampal lesions were studied utilizing an electronic microscope at 40X magnification. In the scopolamine-treated group, escape latency time and locomotor activity were significantly elevated (P <0.001 and P <0.001), and there was a reduction in the time spent in the target quadrant, which was overturned in the case of the A. indica extract treatment (P <0.05 and P <0.05). Treatment with A. indica extract improved the changes in malondialdehyde (P <0.05), acetylcholinesterase (P <0.05), glutathione peroxidase (P <0.05), catalase (P <0.05) and superoxide dismutase (P <0.05) as compared to scopolamine treated group. Histopathological studies showed the pretreatment with A. indica L. extract groups minimized cerebral congestion, cerebral oedema, congestion of meninges and neuronal eosinophilia compared to the scopolamine-treated group. We conclude that the biochemical and histopathological results data support the Neuroprotective activity of aerial parts of A. indica against scopolamine-induced memory impairment in rats, which might be credited to its flavonoids and phenols content.