ORAL ADMINISTRATION OF AN ALCOHOLIC EXTRACT OF CARDARIA DRABA PREVENTED SCOPOLAMINE-, ZINC CHLORIDE – AND SODIUM METAVANADATE – INDUCED AVOIDANCE MEMORY RETENTION IMPAIRMENTS IN STEP-THROUGH PASSIVE AVOIDANCE TASK IN MICE

Cardaria draba commonly known as whitetop or hoary cress is a perennial herb that is native to Eastern Europe and eastern Asia, including Iran. In this study, the effects of alcoholic extract of Cardaria draba (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg) via oral gavage for 2 weeks alone and on scopolamine (1 mg /kg/d, 4 days, i.p.) – zinc chloride (75 mg/kg/d, 2 weeks oral gavage) – and sodium metavanadate (22.5 mg/kg/d, 2 weeks oral gavage) – induced avoidance memory retention alterations were investigated in the step-through passive avoidance task. Zinc chloride and scopolamine were dissolved in saline and sodium metavanadate were dissolved in animal’s drinking water. At the end of each part of studies, animals were trained for one day in a step-through task. The avoidance memory retention alterations were evaluated 24 h, 48 h, 96 h and 168 h later to the training session. Zinc chloride and sodium metavanadate oral gavage for 2 weeks decreased latencies compared to control animals. Also, four days intra-peritoneal injection of scopolamine decreased latency compared to control animals. Finally, findings of this research showed that 2 weeks oral gavage of alcoholic extract of Cardaria draba (100 mg/kg) prevented scopolamine-, zinc chloride- and sodium metavanadate- induced avoidance memory retention impairments.