The Effects of Co-Administration of Memantine And Vitamin D on Spatial Learning and Memory Impairment in Adult Male Rats Model of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common causes of dementia among the elderly people. The aim of this study was to evaluate the synergistic effects of memantine and vitamin D on spatial learning and memory impairment in adult male rat model of Alzheimer's disease.

In this experimental study, male Wistar rats were randomly divided into nine groups (n=7): 1= Control, 2= NBM lesion (received bilateral electric lesion of NBM), 3= Sham (the electrode was entered into the NBM with no electric lesion), 4= NBM lesion+ Vehicle Memantine (received saline), 5= NBM lesion+ Vehicle Vitamin D (received saline), 6= NBM lesion+ Vehicle Memantine+ Vehicle Vitamin D (received saline plus sesame oil), 7= NBM lesion+ Vitamin D; 8= NBM lesion+Memantine, and 9= NBM lesion+Vitamin D+Memantine. After one week, the rats were trained to perform the Y-maze task for five days. Twenty five days after training, a retention test was performed to evaluate their long-term memory.

This study with research ethics code of “EE/ 97, 24, 3061243/scu.ac.ir” was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz In Iran.

Bilateral NBM lesion reduced spatial learning in comparison with control and sham groups. No effect on spatial learning was observed in NBM lesion+ Vehicle Memantine and NBM lesion+ Vehicle Vitamin D groups compared to the NBM lesion group. Spatial learning and memory in NBM lesion +Vitamin D+Memantine group (P<0.001) was significantly improved compared to NBM lesion+Vitamin D (P<0.01) and NBM lesion+Memantine (P<0.05) groups. Moreover, no significant difference was observed between the results in the 5th day of training and the memory retention at the 30th day. 

Co-administration of memantine and vitamin D is more effective than memantine or vitamin D alone in spatial learning and memory improvement in rat model of Alzheimer's disease.