No abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a long-lasting progressive neurodegenerative disease that degrades memory and cognitive function and is often complicated by disorientation and other psychiatric syndromes. At present, to improve the condition of patients with AD, for their treatment, use the drug memantine. The drug is a noncompetitive antagonist of NMDA glutamate receptors in the brain. The present experiments aimed to test the influence of memantine on the memory processes in rats. We used the passive avoidance test “Stepdown”. The latter is used to assess memory function based on the association formed between a particular environment that an animal is learning to avoid and a negative stimulus in the form of a weak electric shock to the feet. We found that memantine significantly, twice, decreased the latency time step-down from the platform in rats during their familiarization with the chamber. The rats became more determined and less afraid of the unknown environment under memantine. Memantine significantly affected the emotionality of young rats, which leads to errors in the passive avoidance test. However, it did not impair memory. It can be concluded that memantine induces a shift toward greater excitability in rats.

No abstract

The prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is increasing in the absence of truly effective treatments. The recently discovered causal link between AD and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) (non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus) suggests that an increase in insulin receptor resistance may affect brain aging and lead to AD. In our experiments, we tested Avandamet (AVD), the antidiabetic drug used for the treatment of T2DM, on temporary parameters of conditioning food reflex in rats. We measured the individual components of the sensorimotor reaction (SMR) of rats, which reflect CNS’s functional state. Important tha7t rosiglitazone is the main component of AVD. It acts by activating the nuclear peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) gamma. Our data showed that this drug influences the brain function of both young and old rats. It is proved that AVD affects the CNS of rats by increasing their excitability. Considering the obtained data from the point of view of AD, the time parameter, which changed more significantly in old rats, was responsible for analyzing the situation and speed of action. Under AVD’s influence, old rats became more agile and had increased motor activity, also the success of rats in performing a conditioned reflex was increased. Thus, the drug AVD and its active component rosiglitazone can be perspective for its testing in AD treatment.