title: Short-term blueberry-enriched diet prevents and reverses object recognition memory loss in aging rats.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Previously, 4 mo of a blueberry-enriched (BB) antioxidant diet prevented impaired object recognition memory in aging rats. Experiment 1 determined whether 1- and 2-mo BB diets would have a similar effect and whether the benefits would disappear promptly after terminating the diets. Experiment 2 determined whether a 1-mo BB diet could subsequently reverse existing object memory impairment in aging rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  In experiment 1, Fischer-344 rats were maintained on an appropriate control diet or on 1 or 2 mo of the BB diet before testing object memory at 19 mo postnatally. In experiment 2, rats were tested for object recognition memory at 19 mo and again at 20 mo after 1 mo of maintenance on a 2% BB or control diet.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In experiment 1, the control group performed no better than chance, whereas the 1- and 2-mo BB diet groups performed similarly and significantly better than controls. The 2-mo BB-diet group, but not the 1-mo group, maintained its performance over a subsequent month on a standard laboratory diet. In experiment 2, the 19-mo-old rats performed near chance. At 20 mo of age, the rats subsequently maintained on the BB diet significantly increased their object memory scores, whereas the control diet group exhibited a non-significant decline. The change in object memory scores differed significantly between the two diet groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that a considerable degree of age-related object memory decline can be prevented and reversed by brief maintenance on BB diets.
authors.affiliation: University of Houston-Clear Lake, Houston, Texas, USA. malin@uhcl.edu
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Malin
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Goyarzu
authors.forename: Yu-Hsuan
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Lalanya J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Ennis
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Beckett
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shukitt-Hale
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Joseph
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D029798:Blueberry Plants; D004032:Diet; D005638:Fruit; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000178:diet therapy*; D008517:Phytotherapy; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D028321:Plant Preparations