Effect of lyophilised Vaccinium berries on memory, anxiety and locomotion in adult rats

doi:10.1016/j.phrs.2005.07.003

Pharmacological Research

Volume 52, Issue 6, December 2005, Pages 457-462

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2005.07.003 Get rights and content

Abstract

Epidemiological studies suggest that diets with a high intake of vegetables and fruits may reduce the incidence of degenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease. Berries are some of the popular fruits consumed worldwide. They are considered to be rich in anthocyanin pigments, a group belonging to the flavonoids, a widespread class of phenolic compounds. Anthocyanins have notorious pharmacological properties, and have been used in humans for therapeutic purposes.

The present experiments were performed to study the possible effects of prolonged administration of lyophilised Vaccinium berries (blueberry, bilberry) on cognitive performance using step-down inhibitory avoidance, open field, elevated plus-maze, and radial maze tasks.

During this experiment the rats consumed approximately 3.2 mg kg⁻¹ day (oral), of the anthocyanins. The lyophilised berries were administered for 30 days before first training.

The present study showed that lyophilised berries significantly enhanced short-term memory, but not long-term memory in the inhibitory avoidance task, and induced an increase in the number of crossings in the first exposure to the open field. However, treated rats did not present any improvement of memory retention in open field habituation. Additionally, prolonged treatment with lyophilised berries did not have any significant effects in the elevated plus-maze task. Another interesting finding was that lyophilised berries improved working memory in the radial maze, with significant differences observed during sessions 1–2 and 4, but did not alter reference memory in this task. These results suggest that lyophilised berries may be beneficial in the prevention of memory deficits, one of the symptoms related to AD, and corroborate previous findings showing that flavonoids present effects in several learning paradigms.

Introduction

Scientific interest in compounds from plant secondary metabolism has increased, since epidemiological studies suggest that diets with a high intake of vegetables and fruits may reduce the incidence of some degenerative diseases [1].

Some fruits are rich in anthocyanin pigments, a group belonging to flavonoids, the widespread class of phenolic compounds. They are glycosides of polyhydroxy – and polymetoxy – derivatives of 2-phenylbenzopyrylium, or flavylium salts [2].

They are particularly abundant in red and purple berries and fruits as well as in red wines; thus, they play an important role in human and animal nutrition [3], [4], [5]. Depending on nutrition habits, the daily intake of anthocyanins in humans has been estimated to range from several milligrams to hundreds of milligrams [6]. Nonetheless, consumers might readily increase their daily anthocyanin intake as levels in some berries contain excess of 100 mg per 100 g [7]. Dietary consumption in some individuals has been estimated to be up to 200 mg/day, which is higher than for other flavonoids such as quercetin [8].

Likewise other flavonoids, the significance of anthocyanins has been discussed in relation to a wide range of physiological functions such as improvement of vision, anticancer activity, and also in their implication in neural dysfunction and cognitive decline. [1], [4], [9], [10].

Joseph et al. [11] found that fruit extracts containing anthocyanins were effective in reversing age-related deficits in several neural and behavioral parameters, e.g. oxotremorine enhancement of a K⁺-evoked release of dopamine from striatal slices, carbachol-stimulated GTPase activity, striatal Ca²⁺ buffering in striatal synaptosomes, motor behavior on the rod walking and accelerating rota rod, and Morris water maze performance.

The present article examines the effect of lyophilised blueberries and bilberries (Vaccinium, Ericaceae) on memory, anxiety, and locomotion in adult rats.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

Berries of Vaccinium from several cultivars varieties (Seleção110, Brite blue, Wood ward, Florida, Climax, Bluegen, Delite, Seleção 77, Blue belle, Alice blue). They were produced by EMBRAPA DE CLIMA TEMPERADO, Pelotas, RS, Brazil, and kept at −0.5 to 0 °C. No sign of pesticides was reported, assuring no interference of these substances on the final results.

Results

There were no differences in weight between the groups over time (P > 0.05) (data not shown). There were also no differences in water/juice intake between the groups over the course of the study (P > 0.05).

Discussion

Berries are some of the most popular fruits consumed worldwide. They are considered to be rich in anthocyanins. Anthocyanins have notorious pharmacological properties, and have been used by humans for therapeutic purposes [4]. In countries where berries are widely consumed, it is of fundamental interest to know whether or not this fruit might affect the neurological impairment caused either age-related cognitive and motor decline or neurological illness.

Reports from other laboratories have

Acknowledgements

Work supported by, FAPERGS and CNPq, Brazil. This work is part of a cooperative program between the Fundação Universidade Federal do Rio Grande and Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. We thank Miriam Apel for their technical help in the experiments.

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Effect of lyophilised Vaccinium berries on memory, anxiety and locomotion in adult rats

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Materials and methods

Results

Discussion

Acknowledgements

Int J Dev Neurosci

Phytochemistry

Nutr Res

Mutat Res

Behav Brain Res

Behav Brain Res

Neurobiol Learn Mem

Behav Brain Res

FEBS Lett

Pharmacol Biochem Behav

Pharmacol Biochem Behav

Bioor Med Chem Lett

J Neurosci Methods

Anti-angiogenic, antioxidant, and anti-carcinogenic properties of a novel anthocyanin-rich berry extract formula

Biochemistry (Moscow)

Anthocyanidins inhibit activator protein 1 activity and cell transformation: structure activity relationship and molecular mechanisms

Carcinogenesis

The flavonoids. A class of semi-essential food components: their role in human nutrition

World Rev Nutr Diet

Anthocyanin glycosides from berry fruit are absorbed and excreted unmetabolized by both humans and rats

J Agric Food Chem