Mulberry Fruit Mitigates Alcohol Neurotoxicity and Memory Impairment Induced by Chronic Alcohol Intake

Problem statement: To date, the therapeutic strategy efficacy against memory impairment induced by alcohol intoxication is still limited. The novel therapeutic strategy which is easy to approach, less toxic and less cost is required. Based on the role of oxidative stress in memory impairment induced by alcohol, the neuroprotective effect of substance possessing antioxidant has gained much attention. Therefore, we aimed to determine the effect of Morus alba fruits, substance possessing antioxidant, on spatial memory and brain damage in hippocampus. Approach: Male Wistar rats were induced alcoholism by increasing the alcohol concentration in drinking water gradually increased to 30% within 15-week period. Then, the alcoholic rats were orally given mulberry fruits powder at doses of 2, 10 and 50 mg kg^-1 BW at a period of 14 days. The memory was assessed using Morris water maze after single administration and every 7 days until the end of the experimental period and at the end of experiment, hippocampus was isolated and determined the neuron density. In addition, the evaluation of Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity and Malondialdehyde (MDA) level were also performed. Results: Our results showed that all doses of mulberry fruits enhanced spatial memory and neurons density in hippocampus. The suppression of both AChE activity and MDA level were also observed. These results suggested that the neuroprotection of mulberry fruits might occur partly via the decreased oxidative stress damage while the cognitive enhancing effect might occur partly via the increased hippocampal neuron density and the suppression of AChE activity. Conclusion: Mulberry fruits can protect against brain damage and memory impairment induced by alcoholism. Therefore, mulberry fruits may be served as natural resource for developing food supplement against alcoholism. However, further researches about possible active ingredient and pharmacokinetic are required before moving forward to clinical trial study.