ABSTRACT
Aim To assess the protective role of chry-sophanol in rats with diabetes-associated cognitive de-cline (DACD) and explore the potential molecular mechanisms.Methods The learning and memory performance was assessed by Morris water maze test;the activities of AChE,ChAT,iNOS and oxidative stress markers including CAT,SOD and GSH-PX in the hippocampus were detected using respective com-mercial kits.The level of BDNF was also measured with commercial ELISA kit.Results Chrysophanol significantly improved learning and memory functions in the diabetic groups.Additionally,the activities of AChE,BDNF also found to be evidently increased, while decreased activities of ChAT,iNOS,CAT,SOD and GSH-PX were observed in the hippocampus of dia-betic rats.Conclusions Collectively,chrysophanol has a protective role against DACD and this neuropro-tection is associated with increasing BDNF level.Chry-sophanol can also suppress the activities of iNOS, CAT,SOD and GSH-PX in diabetic rats.It is likely to be a novel therapeutic drug for the treatment of diabetic patients with cognitive deficits in clinical practice.