title: Long-term (15 mo) dietary supplementation with pomegranates from Oman attenuates cognitive and behavioral deficits in a transgenic mice model of Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Transgenic (Tg) mice, which possess an amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene mutation, develop extracellular amyloid β (Aβ) deposition in the brain, and severe memory and behavioral deficits with age. These mice serve as an important animal model for testing the efficacy of novel drug candidates for the treatment and management of symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Several reports have suggested that oxidative stress is the underlying cause of Aβ neurotoxicity in AD. Pomegranates contain very high levels of antioxidants and several medicinal properties that may be useful for improving quality of life in individuals with AD. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation of Omani pomegranate extract on memory, anxiety, and learning skills in an AD mouse model possessing the double Swedish APP mutation (APPsw/Tg2576).
  
  
  METHODS
  The experimental groups of APP-Tg mice from the age of 4 mo were fed a custom mixed diet (pellets) containing 4% pomegranate. We assessed spatial memory and learning ability, psychomotor coordination, and anxiety-related behavior in Tg and wild-type mice at the age of 4 to 5 mo and 18 to 19 mo using the Morris water maze test, rotarod performance test, elevated plus-maze test, and open field test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  APPsw/Tg2576 mice that were fed a standard chow diet without pomegranates showed significant memory deficits, increased anxiety-related behavior, and severe impairment in spatial learning ability, position discrimination learning ability, and motor coordination compared with the wild-type mice on the same diet, at the age of 18 to 19 mo. In contrast, APPsw/Tg2576 mice that were fed a diet containing 4% pomegranates showed significant improvements in memory, learning, locomotor function, as well as reduction in anxiety, compared with APPsw/Tg2576 mice fed the standard chow diet.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that dietary supplementation with pomegranates may slow the progression of cognitive and behavioral impairments in AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Agriculture and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman; Ageing and Dementia Research Group, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman.
authors.forename: Selvaraju
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Subash
authors.affiliation: Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Nady
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Braidy
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Agriculture and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman; Ageing and Dementia Research Group, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. Electronic address: Drmdessa@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Musthafa Mohamed
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Essa
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Agriculture and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman; Ageing and Dementia Research Group, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman.
authors.forename: Al-Buraiki
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Zayana
authors.affiliation: Ageing and Dementia Research Group, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman; College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman.
authors.forename: Vaishnav
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ragini
authors.affiliation: Ageing and Dementia Research Group, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman; College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman.
authors.forename: Samir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Al-Adawi
authors.affiliation: Ageing and Dementia Research Group, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman; College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman.
authors.forename: Abdullah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Al-Asmi
authors.affiliation: Neuropharmacology Group, MND and Neurodegenerative diseases Research Centre, Macquarie University, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Gilles J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Guillemin
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000188:drug therapy; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects*; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005638:Fruit; D029561:Lythraceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009850:Oman; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Anxiety; Cognitive decline; Memory loss; Oman; Pomegranates