Online - 2455-3891 Vol 13, Issue 12, 2020 Print - 0974-2441 Research Article EFFECT OF DROTAVERINE, A PHOSPHODIESTERASE 4 INHIBITOR IN SCOPOLAMINE-INDUCED COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN RATS KAYALVIZHI MK Department of Pharmacology, Madha Medical College and Research Institute, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Email:
[email protected] Received: 31 August 2020, Revised and Accepted: 10 October 2020 ABSTRACT Objective: Cognitive impairment (CI) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder and causes significant dementia in the elderly. Intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling has been well established in the mediation of memory. Phosphodiesterases (PDEs) are enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of cAMP and/or cyclic GMP. Drotaverine is a novel non-anticholinergic smooth muscle antispasmodic which acts by inhibiting PDE-4. It is now clinically used in smooth muscle spasms (intestinal, biliary and renal colic, irritable bowel syndrome, uterine spasms, etc.) without anticholinergic side effects. Since Drotaverine has PDE4 inhibition property, its role in learning and memory was evaluated in this study and found that it has memory enhancing effect comparable with donepezil in scopolamine-induced CI in rats. Methods: Learning and memory were assessed with two behavioral models, namely, elevated plus maze (EPM) and Y maze. CI was produced by scopolamine. Rats were divided into five groups, Group I treated with normal saline, Group II treated with scopolamine, and Groups III, IV, and V were treated with donepezil, Drotaverine, and both, respectively. Results: The result analysis revealed significant differences in transfer latency in EPM performance between Groups III, IV, V and Group II (***p<0.001). Conclusion:The results of Drotaverine spontaneous has alternation promising in memory Y maze enhancingshow that thereeffect wasin CI a induced significant by scopolaminedifference among in rats.