EFFECTS OF CROCIN FOLLOWING INDUCTION OF HYPOXIA MODEL ON AVOIDANCE MEMORY AND MOTOR ACTIVITY IN YOUNG RAT

Hypoxia is the most common cause of seizures in the neonatal period. Seizure induced by hypoxia cause permanent increases in excitability of neurons and by changing in activity and synaptic plasticity leads to memory impairment. Crocins (Crocus sativus L.) is a water-soluble carotenoid and is the most important active components of saffron. Most studies indicate that crocin have important role in improving learning, memory and motor activity. In this work we assessed the effect of crocin following epileptic model by hypoxia on passive avoidance memory and motor activity in young rat.
In this study, 40 young rats (Wistar) 10-12 years old (18–22 g) maintained at room temperature 23±2. Rats were divided into four experimental groups: sham, crocin, hypoxia only, submitted to hypoxia followed by crocin treatment. For hypoxia induction rats placed in hypoxia container with 7% O2 and 93% N2 for 15 minutes. In crocin group, rats received crocin (30mg/kg for 21 days) after their lactation period. Finally, passive avoidance memory, balance and motor activity were assessed respectively by shuttle box, rotarod and open field instruments.
A decreased step through latency and increased time spent in dark room was observed in passive avoidance test after hypoxia (p Results of this study indicated that hypoxia impairs passive avoidance learning, balance and motor activity and crocin treatment improve these changes.