The effect of green tea extract memory impairment induced by injection of streptozotocin-induced brain in male Wistar rat

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by free radicals and oxidative stress. On the other hand, antioxidant agents can affect the consolidation of memory and thus control the Alzheimer’s disease. It was indicated that green tea extract contains antioxidant agents. In the present study, the effects of green tea extract on consolidation of memory in rats with Alzheimer’s disease were studied. Alzheimer’s was induced by bilateral infusion of streptozotocin (STZ) into the lateral ventricles of brains of the male Wistar rats. The rats received green tea extract by 100 mg/kg dosage. A passive avoidance learning test was used for measuring memory in rats. Time of entering the dark room and the staying time in the dark room was the most important parameters in the avoidance learning test for measurement of memory. The histomorphological studies were also used in order to investigate on both of the tissue damaging and the apoptosis. Data were analyzed by SPSS soft ware and the p-value was considered as <0.05. Our results showed that memory in STZ group decreased significantly compared to control and sham groups. In contrast, treatment with green tea increased the speed of learning and improvement of memory in rats with Alzheimer’s. The results achieved from histomorphologic a studies demonstrated reducing in apoptosis in the green tea treated groups. These data shows that green tea extract is useful in treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and its consequent memory damages and causes a descend in the apoptosis in the cells of the hippocampus.