Oral administration of squid lecithin-transphosphatidylated phosphatidylserine improves memory impairment in aged rats

• Aging induced memory and cognitive deficits in rats.
• Squid PS intake restored age-associated memory deficits in the Morris water maze.
• Squid PS intake also protected memory-related neuronal degeneration.

Recently, lecithin-derived phosphatidylserine (PS), which originates from marine life, has received much attention as a viable alternative to bovine cerebral cortex PS. In this study, the use of squid phosphatidylcholine-transphosphatidylated PS (SQ-PS) was evaluated through examination of its ameliorating effects on age-associated learning and memory deficits in rats. Aged rats were orally administered SQ-PS (10, 20, or 50 mg/kg per day) once a day for seven days 30 min prior to behavioral assessment in a Morris water maze. SQ-PS administration produced significant dose-dependent improvements in escape latency for finding the platform in the Morris water maze in the aged rats even though Soy-PS administration also exhibited comparable improvements with SQ-PS. Biochemical alterations in the hippocampal cholinergic system, including changes in choline acetyltransferase and acetylcholinesterase immunoreactivity, were consistent with the behavioral results. In addition, SQ-PS treatment significantly restored age-associated decreases of choline transporter and muscarinic acetylcholine receptor type 1 mRNA expression in the hippocampus. These results demonstrate that orally administered SQ-PS dose-dependently aids in the improvement of memory deficits that occur during normal aging in rats. This suggests that SQ-PS may be a useful therapeutic agent in the treatment of diminished memory function in elderly people.

Squid-PS administration produced significant improvements in escape latency for finding the platform in the Morris water maze. Biochemical alterations in the hippocampal cholinergic system including the expression level of choline acetyltransferase were consistent with the behavioral results.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide