Treatment with actovegin improves spatial learning and memory in rats following transient forebrain ischaemia

This study aimed to investigate whether actovegin,which is a deproteinized ultrafiltrate derived from calf blood,demonstrates neuroprotective effects in a rat model of transient global cerebral ischaemia. forty sprague dawley rats were subjected to four-vessel occlusion to induce transient global cerebral ischaemia followed by either saline or actovegin treatment. sham operations were performed on 15 rats. actovegin (200 mg/kg) or saline was administered 6 hrs after carotid artery occlusion and then daily until day 40. learning and memory were evaluated using the morris water maze test over two different 5-day periods,and grip strength testing was also performed to control for potential motor impairments. rat brains were harvested for histological analysis on day 68. in comparison to controls,actovegin-treated rats exhibited a decreased latency to reach the hidden platform on the second learning trial of water maze testing (46.82 ± 6.18 versus 27.64 ± 4.53 sec.,p < 0.05; 38.3 ± 8.23 versus 13.37 ± 2.73 sec.,p < 0.01 for the first and second 5-day testing periods,respectively). in addition,actovegin-treated rats spent more time in the platform quadrant than saline-treated rats during memory trials (p < 0.05). no differences in grip strength were detected. histological analyses demonstrated increased cell survival in the ca1 region of the hippocampus following actovegin treatment (left hemisphere,166 ± 50 versus 332 ± 27 cells,p < 0.05; right hemisphere,170 ± 45 versus 307 ± 28 cells,p < 0.05,in saline- versus actovegin-treated rats,respectively). in rats,actovegin treatment improves spatial learning and memory following cerebral ischaemia,which may be related to hippocampal ca1 neuroprotection. © 2014 the authors. journal of cellular and molecular medicine published by john wiley & sons ltd and foundation for cellular and molecular medicine.