Effect of Shilajit on Amnesia

Abstract

Shilajit is a herbo-mineral drug, has been referred to as memory enhancer. donepezil is prescribed to treat   mild to moderate dementia, amnesia, and cognitive disorders. Midzolam is known to produce anterograde amnesia in human and animals. The present study is framed to investigate the effect of Shilajit and Donepezil on Midzolam induced experimental amnesia using elevated plus maze test in mice. Twelve groups of mice were used and each group involved of six mice. Midzolam (2 mg kg -1), shilajit (100 mg kg-1), Donepezil (3 mg kg) and distilled water (as vehicle) (10 ml kg-1) were injected intraperitoneally (ip) in different groups of mice 30 min before the training and immediate after the training. Each mouse was naïve to elevate plus maze for 90 sec. The time taken by the animals to move from the open arms to either of two sides of enclosed arms was recorded. All the results were expressed as mean±S.E.M and P<0.05 considered as statistically significant. Midzolam treated animals exhibit significant increase in transfer latency time. On the other hand, shilajit and Donepezil treated mice shown significant decrease in transfer latency time. Simultaneously, animals treated with shilajit (100 mg kg^-1 i.p.) and Donepezil (3 mg kg^-1 i.p.) significantly exhibit decrease in transfer latency time measured after 24 hrs in the animals previously treated with Midzolam (2 mg kg^-1 i.p.). The above observations revels that Midzolam impair learning, shilajit and Donepezil improve acquisition. The results also indicate that shilajit and Donepezil prevent Midzolam induce learning impairment. It may be concluded that shilajit and Donepezil reverse Midzolam induced amnesia by the same mechanism i.e. improvement in cholinergic or dopaminergic activity, at least in mice species.

Key words:  Shilajit, Donepezil, Midzolam, Amnesia, Elevated plus maze, Mice