Behavioral and molecular effects of intrahippocampal infusion of auraptene, resveratrol, and curcumin on H-89-induced deficits on spatial memory acquisition and retention in Morris water maze.

Our aim was to investigate the effects of resveratrol, auraptene, and curcumin on the spatial learning and spatial memory retention in the Morris water maze (MWM). The effects of 4-day bilateral intrahippocampal (i.h.) infusions of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), H-89 as a protein kinase AII inhibitor, auraptene/H-89, resveratrol/H-89, and curcumin/H-89 were investigated on spatial memory acquisition in MWM. The rats were trained for 4 days; each day included one block of four trials. Post-training probe tests were performed on day 5 in acquisition test. For retention assessments, different animals were trained for 4 days and then infused (i.h.) with either DMSO, H-89, auraptene/H-89, resveratrol/H-89, or curcumin/H-89. The retention test was performed 48 h after the last training trial. The bilateral infusion of H-89 led to a significant impairment in spatial memory in acquisition and retention tests accompanied with a significant decrease in expressions of cAMP response-element binding (CREB) and pCREB proteins in hippocampus. Resveratrol and curcumin reversed the H-89-induced spatial memory acquisition and retention impairments with significant increases in both CREB and pCREB proteins expressions compared to H-89-treated animals. Auraptene showed significant effects in reversing H-89-induced impairments in spatial memory retention but not spatial memory acquisition.