effects of different coumarin-3-carboxamide agents on scopolamine induced learning and memory deficit in mice

Introduction: it has been shown that three new synthetic coumarins-3-carboxamides including 3-fluorobenzilchloride, 4-fluorobenzilchloride and 2-hidroxy-3 metoxybenzaldehyde, have acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity. this study was performed to estimate ameliorating effect of these new coumarin-3-carboxamides on memory impairments induced by scopolamine (1 mg/kg, induced prolongation) in mice. methods: 30 male mice were divided into five groups, 6 mice in each group. three experiment groups received coumarins-3- carboxamides (10 mg/kg body weight) 30 min before scopalamin injection and two other groups considered as normal (saline-treated) groups and finally one negative control (scopalamin only) group. the experiment groups were treated with coumarins of 3-fluorobenzilchloride, 4-fluorobenzilchloride and 2-hidroxy-3 metoxybenzaldehyde. the passive avoidance test was performed in an automatic conventional shuttle box set-up. the stepped down latency and number of errors was recorded. results: with reference to saline-treated group, scopolamine-treated mice demonstrated impairment of learning and memory as a reduction of latency and an increased numbers of errors in step-down test)p < 0.01). treated mice receiving these coumarins at the dose of 10 mg/kg showed an increase in the number of avoidances on the memory tests compared to the scopolamine group (p < 0.01). conclusion: the study has demonstrated some therapeutic effects of coumarin-3-carboxamides on learning and memory deficit induced by scopolamine. further investigation is needed to explore whether coumarin-3-carboxamides could be beneficial for memory impairment in alzheimer’s disease in which cholinergic deficit is one of the hallmarks.