The Effect of Sesame Oil Injection into CA1 Area of Hippocampus on Spatial Learning and Memory, and its Interaction with Sexual Steroids in Adult Male Rats

Sesame oil is one of the vegetable oils that has been used in traditional medicine for ages. Evidences indicate that unsaturated fatty acids can modulate learning and memory. In this study the effect of intrahippocampal injection of sesame oil on spatial learning and memory in N-MARI intact and castrated adult male rats was investigated. The animals were microcannulated, and divided into 3 intact and 3 castrated groups (n=7 in each group). The intact and castrated control groups (no injection), the castrated and intact saline sham and sesame oil. Test groups received bilaterally, 0.5 m l saline or sesame oil into the CA1 region of hippocampus every day for 5 days immediately before the training. Then each rat was trained 30 times every day, for a total of 5 days with Y-maze. After a month, all the groups were tested (one session) for memory test. Statistical analysis of data showed that sesame oil increases learning in both castrared and intact groups, but it did not change the spatial memory in intact animals. Also it did not prevent memory decline in castrated animals. It seems that sesame oil increases learning task. On the other hand, it is probable that sesame oil has an interaction with sexual hormones to exert its enhancement effect on learning task.