No abstract

This study was undertaken to provide preliminary evidence for beneficial effects of both bilateral as well as unilateral caloric vestibular stimulation as an alternative therapy for enhancement of cognition and motor activity in Scopolamine induced dementia in Wistar albino rats. 36 healthy, adult male Wistar albino rats with body weight ranging from 150-200 g were used in the current study. Donepezil is used as standard drug in this study. Donepezil was administered orally at a dose of 5 mg/kg for 14 days. Caloric vestibular stimulation was administered by irrigating the middle ear cavity with hot water with a temperature of 45 degree centigrade with the help of syringe for 30 days. In conclusion, even though our study proves both unilateral left and bilateral hot water vestibular stimulation is beneficial in Scopolamine induced dementic rats in improving spatial cognition as well as motor control, unilateral left vestibular stimulation was found to be more beneficial. We recommend further detailed studies in this area to explore mechanisms of action.

The aim of the study is to provide preliminary evidence on beneficial effects of long term caloric vestibular stimulation as an alternative therapy for enhancement of cognition and motor activity as well as delay/prevent dementia symptoms in scopolamine induce dementia in a rat model. Adult male Wistar albino rats were chosen in the current study. Scopolamine was the drug of choice to induce dementia and donepezil was used as a standard drug in this study. Vestibular stimulation method was Caloric vestibular stimulation which was administered by injecting hot water of 45 degrees centigrade into the middle ear cavity with the help of syringe for 60 days (both bilaterally and unilaterally). In conclusion, bilateral and unilateral left vestibular stimulation had found to beneficial in improving spatial memory, motor control and various cognitive neurotransmitter levels in scopolamine-induced dementia rats. But the mechanism is largely unclear and unknown. Further detailed studies should be conducted in this area to explore mechanisms of action.