Özet:
Achillea pseudoaleppica (Asteraceae) is an endemic plant species of Turkey. Several
species of the genus has been used in folk medicine in the treatment of wounds,
bleedings, headache, inflammation, pains, spasmodic diseases, flatulence and
dyspepsia. In the present study, memory-enhancing, anxiolytic and antidepressant-
like activities of A. pseudoaleppica essential oil on scopolamine-induced amnesic
rats are assessed. In order to evaluate memory- enhancing activities of A.
pseudoaleppica essential oil (1% and 3%, for 21 continuous days) Y-maze and
radial arm maze tasks were used. As expected, scopolamine administration
decreased spontaneous alternation percentage in Y-maze test and increased the
number of working memory errors and the number of reference memory errors in
radial arm-maze test. A. pseudoaleppica essential oil used in this study displayed
an improved effect on acquisition of the short-term memory of scopolamine-treated
rats within the Y-maze task as evidenced by increased spontaneous alternation
percentage. A. pseudoaleppica essential oil administered rats also showed
significant improvement of reference memory formation, but not working memory
formation in radial arm maze test. Furthermore, A. pseudoaleppica essential oil
induced anxiolytic effect on elevated plus maze test as evidenced by increased
percentage of open arm time, open arm entries and the number of crossings as
compared to scopolamine-alone treated rats. A. pseudoaleppica essential oil also
exhibited antidepressant-like effects as evidenced by decreased immobility time on
forced-swimming test. These results suggest the neuroprotective potential of
Achillea pseudoaleppica essential oil on scopolamine-induced amnesia in rats and
could act as a promising therapeutic agent for the neurological abnormalities
related to Alzheimer's disease.
