Protective effect of α-terpineol against impairment of hippocampal synaptic plasticity and spatial memory following transient cerebral ischemia in rats

Cerebral ischemia is often associated with cognitive impairment. Oxidative stress has a crucial role in the memory deficit following ischemia/reperfusion injury. α-Terpineol is a monoterpenoid with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of α-terpineol against memory impairment following cerebral ischemia in rats.
Cerebral ischemia was induced by transient bilateral common carotid artery occlusion in male Wistar rats. The rats were allocated to sham, ischemia, and α-terpineol-treated groups. α-Terpineol was given at doses of 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg, IP once daily for 7 days post ischemia. Morris water maze (MWM) test was used to assess spatial memory and in vivo extracellular recording of long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampal dentate gyrus was carried out to evaluate synaptic plasticity. Malondialdehyde (MDA) was measured to assess the extent of lipid peroxidation in the hippocampus.
In MWM test, α-terpineol (100 mg/kg, IP) significantly decreased the escape latency during training trials (P These findings indicate that α-terpineol improves cerebral ischemia-related memory impairment in rats through the facilitation of LTP and suppression of lipid peroxidation in the hippocampus.