Potential Cognitive and Memory Enhancing Property of the Caulerpa Lentillifera (Lato) & Kappaphycus Alvarezii (Guso).

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Rationale It is true that some of us get more forgetful as we age. It may take longer to learn new things, remember certain words, or find our glasses. These changes are often signs of forgetfulness. Brain scientists believe that the effects of normal aging on memory may result from the subtly changing environment within the brain. With aging, the brain seems to lose cells in areas that produce important neurotransmitters, upsetting the brain’s delicate balance of these chemical messengers. Other changes occur in the brain’s white matter, which is made up of nerve cell fibers, the â€Å"telephone cables† of brain cells through which communication with other cells takes place. Just how these changes affect memory is not entirely clear, but it may be that they decrease the efficiency of cell-to-cell communication. What the scientist knows is as we get older, our capability to lay down fresh memories may be affected, making it more difficult to learn new things. It’s not so much that we forget more easily, but that we may take longer to learn the information in the first place A lot of studies have been made in different substance for its potential property on enhancing memory and cognition. Docosahexaenoic acid is one of them. DHA is the most abundant omega-3 fatty acid in the brain. DHA is believe that it could maintain memory and support overall cognitive health. A carotenoid namely fucoxanthin increase the amount DHA in the biological system without intake of fish oil supplementation. It is also consider that low carotenoid levels could play a role in cognitive impairment. Phytochemicals such as antioxidants polyphenolic compounds flavonoids occur all over in foods of plant origin like fruits and vegetable, carotenoids, vitamin E and vitamin C have also a possible in improving age-related neurological dysfunction. These substances could also be found in marine algae and other marine organism. DHA is mostly found in the fish oil but the DHA originates from the photosynthetic and heterotrophic microalgae and macroalgae that the fish ate and other marine creature. Phytochemical such as flavonoids is found also in algae. Knowing about this there could be a possibility for its memory and cognitive enhancing property. Eating seaweeds could have its benefits. It is time to get to know the seaweeds known in the Filipino tables which are Caulerpa lentillifera (lato), Kappaphycus alvarezii (guso) and lukot although everyone calls it a ‘seaweed', â€Å"lukot† is anything but a the ‘secretions' of the creature dongsul/Sea Hare (Dolabella auricularia) and it is not an algae but it eats algae. With all this information there could be a possibility for its memory and cognitive enhancing property. Thus this study is to be conducted. A. kappaphycus alvarezii (Guso)B. Caulerpa lentillifera (Lato) www. ruffordsmallgrants. orgwww. backpackingphilippines. com C. Egg mass of Sea Hare (Dolabella auriculari) (Lukot) www. marketmanila. com Fig. 1 A, B, C: Seaweeds and Egg Mass Used in the Experiments Objective of the Study This study aims to determine the memory and cognitive enhancing properties of Caulerpa Lentillifera (lato), Kappaphycus alvarezii (guso) and and egg mass of Sea Hare(Dolabella auricularia) on mature albino mice. 1. To determine the average time at which the mice were able to complete the task after the allotted period for the consumption of the pigeon pellets, Caulerpa Lentillifera (lato), Kappaphycus alvarezii (guso) and egg mass of Sea Hare(Dolabella auricularia). 2. To compare which of the treatment Caulerpa Lentillifera (lato), Kappaphycus alvarezii (guso) and â€Å"lukot† egg mass of Sea Hare(Dolabella auricularia) have more cognitive and memory enhancing property. Significance of the Study The importance of the study is to help us reveal the potential cognitive and memory enhancing property of the Caulerpa lentillifera (lato) & Kappaphycus alvarezii (guso). Once its memory-cognition enhancing property is determine, this study promotes the consumption of edible eaweeds and other marine creatures to be part of the diet of average Filipino citizen like the Japanese people. Incorporating it through our daily meals could be use as a preventive measure away from dementia, Alzheimer’s and other memory-cognitive decline diseases. Moreover this study will present additional information to the other researchers with their studies in improving the memory & cognition and those researchers doing investigation & experimentation on Caulerpa le ntillifera (lato), Kappaphycus alvarezii (guso)and egg mass of Sea Hare(Dolabella auricularia). Scope and Limitation The study only focuses on Caulerpa lentillifera (lato), Kappaphycus alvarezii (guso) and and egg mass (lukot) of Sea Hare (Dolabella auricularia) and its cognitive-memory enhancing property. The seaweeds and the egg mass will be purchased in Carbon Public Market. The experimentation will takes place in University of San Carlos- Animal House, Pharmacological Testing Room where there is sufficient air, light and ventilation and the testing period will take 20 days. The mature albino white mice will be coming from one single source and will weigh 25-30grams. The method will be use in measuring memory and cognition will be Morris Water Maze. The time that the rat reaches the platform is used as the basis of analysis on the memory-cognitive enhancing property. This study only provide information on the effectiveness of the macroalgae Caulerpa lentillifera (lato) & Kappaphycus alvarezii (guso) and egg mass (lukot) of Sea Hare(Dolabella auricularia) on their cognitive-memory enhancing property. Definition of Terms Cognition- A term referring to the mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension, including thinking, knowing, remembering, judging and problem-solving. DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid )-An omega-3, polyunsaturated, 22-carbon fatty acid found almost exclusively in fish and marine animal oils. Latency- The amount of time a message takes to traverse a system. Memory- Refers to the processes that are used to acquire, store, retain and later retrieve information. There are three major processes involved in memory: encoding, storage and retrieval. Non-sequential- Not in logical order or sequence. Spatial- With reference to space or arrangement in space. Quasi-random- A low-discrepancy sequence. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE One of the memory & cognition decline is caused by oxidative stress and epigenetic changes. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that progressive oxidative damage is a conserved, central mechanism of age-related functional decline moreover; genes that mediate oxidative stress responses and DNA damage repair constitute the largest class of genes up regulated in the ageing human prefrontal cortex. Dietary antioxidants can suppress many age-related gene expressions and can reduce cognitive decline and prevent oxidative damage to the brain in ageing rats (Bishop et al. , 2010). Eating food rich in phytochemicals improves the aged-related neurological dysfunction including the most devastating of these, are Alzheimer’s disease [AD] and Parkinson’s disease [PD]. Phytochemicals such as consumption of dietary antioxidants polyphenolic compounds (flavonoids) occur ubiquitously in foods of plant origin (fruits and vegetable), Carotenoids, vitamin E and vitamin C (Youdim and Joseph, 2001) A study was done showing the relationship between cognitive performance (assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination, Trail Making Test Part B, Digit Symbol Substitution, Finger Tapping Test, and Word Fluency Test) and different plasma carotenoids (lutein, zeaxanthin, b-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, a-carotene, and trans-bcarotene and cis-b-carotene) in a healthy elderly population. Logistic regression showed that participants with the lowest cognitive functioning (25th percentile) had a higher probability of having low levels of specific plasma carotenoids (,1st quartile): lycopene and zeaxanthin. This shows that Low carotenoid level in the blood could be the cause of cognitive impairment. (Akbaraly, et al. 2007). Fucoxanthum a carotenoid extracted in macroalgae by using of powdered seaweed (Undaria Pinnatifida) with chloroform/methanol (2:1) v/v. Undaria lipids containing the Fucoxanthin 9. 6% was obtained from the powdered seaweed while 78% from the crude. Fucoxanthin also enhances the amount of DHA in the liver. This shows the chance of dietary fucoxanthin stimulated increase DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) in biological system without direct DHA supplementation. DHA is naturally originate in the body in small amounts, and is the most abundant omega 3 fatty acid in the brain. DHA oil is abundant in some marine microalgae (Miyashita, et al. 2008). A Twenty-four week supplementation with 900 mg/d DHA improved learning and memory function in age related cognitive decline (ARCD) and is a beneficial supplement that supports cognitive health with aging and with Alzheimer’s disease. The omega-3 fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) are orthomolecular, conditionally essential nutrients that enhance quality of life and lower the risk of premature death. They function exclusively via cell membranes, in which they are anchored by phospholipid molecules. DHA is proven essential to pre- and postnatal brain development, whereas EPA seems more influential on behavior and mood. Both DHA and EPA generate neuroprotective metabolites. In doubleblind, randomized, controlled trials, DHA and EPA combinations have been shown to benefit attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), autism, dyspraxia, dyslexia, and aggression. For the affective disorders, meta-analyses confirm benefits in major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder, with promising results in schizophrenia and initial benefit for borderline personality disorder. Accelerated cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) correlate with lowered tissue levels of DHA/EPA, and supplementation has improved cognitive function. Altern Med Rev, 2007). Twenty weaning Sprague Dawley (SD) female rats were randomly divided into two groups and fed either with a diet that was adequate in LNA (n-3 Adq) or with a diet that was deficient in LNA (n-3 Def). In the MWM test, the escape latency of both groups gradually decreased over the testing period, indicating an improvement in performance for both groups. In general, the n-3 Adq group had shorter late ncies to locate the escape platform than the n-3-Def rats (P