The effect of swimming on scopolamine-induced amnesia in the CA1 of female mice

Scopolamine is among the secondary metabolites of plants from Solanaceae (nightshade) family of plants. Some reports have postulated that several kinds of exercise play a critical role in modulation of cognitive and non-cognitive behaviors. Exercise is suggested to improve learning and memorydeficits in Alzheimer's disease and to reduce the anxietylike behaviors in stress conditions. The actual mechanism(s) for the effects seen with these interventions are not yet completely clear. Thus the aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of swimming on elevated plus maze (EPM) associative memory deficit induced by intra-CA1 injection of scopolamine. Bilateral guide cannulae were located to allow intra-CA1 microinjection. Elevated plus maze has been used for measurement of anxiety-like behaviors and emotional memory Data showed that injection of scopolamine at the dose of 2 μg/mice reduced the emotional memory while exerted no effect on anxiety like behaviors. It was further demonstrated that, 20 days of swimming followed by 7 days washout restored the emotional memory deficit induced by 2 μg/mice intra-CA1 scopolamine injection. These data suggest that swimming improve scopolamine-induced amnesia in the CA1 of female mice.