investigating the effect of cumin (cuminum cyminum l.)hydroalcoholic extract on the incidence of passive avoidance learning in gonadectomized male wistar rats

Background: learning and memory are fundamental to the survival of human life. in view of that, a relationship exists between age-related forgetfulness and changes in sex hormone levels. objectives: respecting the benefits of cumin ( cuminum cyminuml.) for sex hormones, this study investigated the effect of cumin hydroalcoholic extract (hae) on learning and memory in gonadectomized (gdx) male wistar rats. methods: first, cumin seeds were purchased and identified by the herbarium affiliated with islamic azad university (iau), qom branch, qom, iran. the hydroalcoholic extract (hae) was then extracted using a soxhlet apparatus, and cumin powder was prepared using a drying oven. a total of 48 male wistar rats (weighing 250 ± 50 g) were divided into eight groups: a normal group treated with dimethyl sulfoxide (dmso), three normal groups receiving cumin hae doses of 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg, a gdx group treated with dmso, and three gdx groups receiving cumin hae doses of 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg. following the surgical procedure to remove both testes, intraperitoneal (ip) injections were administered. half an hour later, learning and memory tasks were conducted using the shuttle box, and the step-through latency (stl) as the standard index of passive avoidance learning (pal) was recorded for 10 minutes. the data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (anova) and tukey's test. results: the gdx male wistar rats receiving dmso experienced a significant decline in stl compared to the normal group treated in the same manner (p < 0.001). the rats in the gdx groups receiving cumin hae doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg also demonstrated a significant increase in stl compared to the gdx group treated with dmso (p < 0.001). conclusions: as evidenced, gdx decreased pal, but cumin hae boosted learning and memory in the gdx male wistar rats.