Journal
NUTRITIONAL NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 18, Issue 1, Pages 22-29Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1179/1476830513Y.0000000096
Keywords
Phospholipids; Supplementation; Memory; Morris water maze tests; Dopamine; vascular degeneration; Aged rats
Categories
Funding
- Dairy Primary Growth Partnership
- Minister of Business, Innovation and Employment
- Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd, New Zealand
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Objectives: The socio-economic impact from age-related mental decline is escalating. Supplementation of functional foods for sustaining mental health is desirable. We examined the effect of long-term supplementation of complex milk lipid concentrate (CMLc), mixed dairy phospholipids, on memory and associated vascular and neuronal changes in aged rats. Methods: Fisher/Norway Brown rats were used. Two groups of aged rats (24 months) were fed with either gelatin-formulated CMLc or blank gelatin as the control, for 4 months. To determine age-related changes, a young group (5 months) was also fed with blank gelatin. Morris water maze tests were carried out after the supplementation and brain tissues were collected for biological analysis. Results: The aged control rats learnt to locate the platform slower than the young control rats during acquisition trials (*P < 0.05), and made fewer entries to and more initial heading errors from the platform zone during testing trials (*P < 0.05). The CMLc supplementation improved memory by showing the reduced initial heading errors in a delayed probe trial (P-# < 0.05). We also found that the aged rats with CMLc supplementation improved vascular density, dopamine output, and neuroplasticity (P-# < 0.05) in the brain regions involved in memory compared with that of the aged control rats. Discussion: The data suggested that the supplementation of CMLc during the early stage of brain aging may prevent memory decline possibly through improving vascular and neuronal function.
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