ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) are at high risk of experiencing cognitive impairment. Such dysfunction is also observed in an animal model of TLE, the rat model of pilocarpine-induced epilepsy. METHODS: We investigated the effects of fish oil supplementation on spatial memory in rats with pilocarpine-induced epilepsy using the Morris Water Maze (MWM) test. RESULTS: Although rats with pilocarpine-induced epilepsy treated with fish oil learned the platform location significantly faster by Day 7 of the acquisition phase, spatial memory performance of these rats was unaffected by fish oil supplementation during probe trials. SIGNIFICANCE: Our study provides insights into the importance of considering nutraceutical strategies for enhancing cognitive abilities in patients with TLE.
