The Synergist Effects of Folic Acid and Vitamin B12 on Spatial Memory in Adult Male Rat Model of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized clinically by progressive memory loss and subsequent dementia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the synergist effect of folic acid and vitamin B12 on spatial memory in adult male rat Alzheimer's disease.
Material and In this experimental study, 49 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 7 groups: (7 rats in each group): control(intact), NBM lesion group, which received electrically- induced lesion (0.5 m A, 3s) in NBM, sham group ( the electrode was impaled in to the NBM with no lesion), NBM lesion folic acid 5mg/kg, NBM lesion vitamin B12 5mg/kg, NBM lesion folic acid- vitamin B12, NBM lesion saline. Acquisition and retention testing was done by using an eight-radial arm maze, in which the patterns of arm entries were recorded in each group for calculating working memory errors, reference memory error ,and latency. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc test.
The results showed that there was a significant difference between the control and lesion groups in the parameters of the reference memory error, working memory error ,and elapsed time (P˂0.05). The administration of folic acid and vitamin B12alone did not have any significant effect on spatial memory parameters compared with the lesion group. Co-administration folic acid- vitamin B12 resulted in a reduction in the reference and working memory errors and the time spent in the eight-arm radial laser maze.
According to the results, the NMB lesion resulted in a reduction in spatial memory and co-administration of folic acid and vitamin B12 resulted in improved spatial memory.