Virgin Coconut Oil Improved Discriminative Learning and Working Memory in Aging Cycling and Non-Cycling Female Sprague-Dawley Rats Supporting Its Beneficial Effect in Retarding Age-Related Cognitive Decline
Aim: Beneficial effects ofvirgin coconut oil (VCO) consumption to
improve cognition in menopausal femalesremain inconclusive. This study examined the effect of VCO
supplementation in aging cycling and non-cycling rodents to assess its impact
on cognition. Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats (10-18 months) were randomly assigned to a supplemented VCO group (SVCO) that
received oral doses of 1.42 mL/kg/day VCO (n = 10) and a non-supplemented (NVCO) group (n = 10). Their performance in a biased Y-maze discriminative
learning paradigm was assessed over a 16-week period. Rats were initially
allowed 3 minutes to explore the maze (habituated) and subsequently pre-trainedin the
non-preferred, white chamber to associate the presentation of a tone with a
treat (reward). Training involved 4 daily trials initially for 3 weeks during which rats were
rewarded if they entered the white arm within 15 sec after tone presentation.
Time (days) to attain at least 75% correct responses (CR) determined acquisition
latency (AL). Memory retention (MR1) of the learned task was assessed following
a 1-week break from training and
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