Evaluating the effect of Salvia hydrangea extract on memory improvement, apoptosis reduction and CREB phosphorylation in animal model of Alzheimer's disease in male rats

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most familiar disease، which leads to dementia. There are many studies to find the pretreatment and treating drugs in this disease. Many herbs show the protective effect against AD. The protective role of Salvia genus in neurodegenerative disease is well established. In this study، we evaluated the protective role of Salvia hydrangea (S. hydrangea) extract on AD model. Rats were gavaged for 10 days by S. hydrangea. Subsequently، rats were injected by amyloid beta and were tested by shuttle box. The molecular level of Ca2+/cAMP response element binding (CREB)، caspase-3 antioxidant and acetylcholine esterase activity were evaluated. Our results demonstrated that S. hydrangea could improve memory in AD models rats. S. hydrangea increased antioxidant activity and CREB phosphorylation in pretreated rats. Treating by S. hydrangea decreased neuronal apoptosis in the hippocampus and frontal cortex. Chromatographic analysis showed that S. hydrangea has phenolic compounds such as gentisic acid، chlorogenic acid، caffeic and syringic acid. Our results suggested that S. hydrangea contain a dominant potential in prevention of AD.