Nine months of dietary supplementation of Omani fruits (pomegranate, figs and dates) improves the memory, anxiety and learning skills in Alzheimer's disease transgenic mice

Active components present in the fruits have been shown to be neuro-protective in different disease states including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We have studied the comparative effect of 9 month dietary supplementation of pomegranate, figs and dates on the memory, anxiety and learning skills in AD mouse model. The experimental groups of APP-transgenic mice from the age of 4 months were fed custom-mix diets (pellets) containing 4% pomegranate or 4% figs or 4% dates. These experimental and control mice were examined at the age of 4-5 months, 7-8 months and 10-11 months by Morris water maze test (for spatial memory & learning ability), T maze test (for position discrimination learning ability), rota rod test (for psychomotor coordination), elevated plus maze test (for anxiety-related behavior) and open field test to analyze the effect of diet rich in pomegranate, figs and dates on memory, anxiety and learning skills. AD mice without fruits in diet showed memory deficit, anxiety-related behavior, and severe impairment in spatial learning ability, position discrimination learning ability and motor coordination compared to the wild type mice on the same diet. All the diets rich in 4% pomegranate or 4% figs or 4% dates fed tg mice showed a significant improvement above factors compared to the AD tg mice on diet without pomegranate or figs. The more effect was found in the animals fed with 4% pomegranate compared to 4% figs and 4% date pal fruit diets. Our results suggest that dietary supplementation of pomegranate; figs and dates may have the beneficial effect in reducing the risk, delaying the onset or slowing the progression of AD. Supported by a research grant from The Research Council, Oman (RC/AGR/FOOD/11/01)2 page(s