Comparative Study of the Effects of Metformin and Garlic Extract on Hippocampal Na⁺/K⁺ATPase, Ca²⁺ATPase and Glutamine Synthetase Activities in Type II Diabetic Wistar Rat

Diabetes mellitus has not ceased to be on rise in spite of the continuous research on its management. Brain dysfunction associated with Diabetes mellitus especially Type II has been the great concern. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of insulin sensitizing drug metformin and ethanolic extract of garlic on membrane bound enzymes Na+/K+ ATPase, Ca2+ ATPase and glutamate-glutamine cycle enzyme, Glutamine Synthetase activities in the hippocampus of streptozotocin-Nicotinamide induced Type II Diabetic rats. Twenty four male wistar rats weighted 120 - 150 g were used and divided into four groups with six rats in each group. Group A was non-diabetic (Control) and Groups B, C and D were diabetic. Group B received no treatment (DNT) while Groups C and D were treated with 1000 mg/kg of ethanolic garlic extract (EGE) and 50 mg/kg of metformin (MET) respectively orally for three weeks. All the groups were fed on standard rat chow with water ad libitum. Blood glucose was monitored weekly. Animals were sacrificed and the brains were removed and hippocampi were carefully excised and homogenate were obtained. Homogenate was analyzed for Na+/K+ ATPase, Ca2+ ATPase and Glutamine Synthetase (GS) activities. MET and EGE significantly reduced the blood glucose levels. There was a significant increase in the activities of hippocampal Na+/K+ ATPase, Ca2+ ATPase and GS in MET and EGE when compared to DNT. The results suggest that both MET and EGE increase the activities of hippocampal Na+/K+ ATPase, Ca2+ ATPase and GS which were reduced by diabetes mellitus, thus garlic and metformin administration exhibiting neuroprotective effect during hippocampal-related disorders associated with diabetes mellitus.

Community Education Challenges in Young Adults of South Western Uganda

The aim of this study was to identify the major challenges to community education and any health problem in Bushenyi district of South Western Uganda. Data collection was done through questionnaire and participants were randomly selected. This was a cross-sectional study carried out for a period of three months in 2012. A questionnaire was used to collect data and using onsite observations the responses were validated. A total of 260 participants from 65 homesteads were included in the study from 52 households. 144 were females and 116 males, of which 52.4% of the children were female and the rest male. The mean ± SEM age of females and males was 36 ± 8.6 and 29 ± 8.6 years respectively. In all the homesteads, 71% were headed by an adult male and only 29% were found to be headed by an adult female while none was headed by children. Inferential analysis showed (P = 0.02) that there are more females than male in the homesteads. Majority of the homesteads are being taken care of by women instead of men probably as a result of the high mortalities due to HIV/AIDS in the past decade and above all the movement of most men to urban centers in search of better sources of employment to support their families. Among school going age participant’s i.e. children and adolescents, only 59.6% were found to be attending school. There was no statistical significance (P = 0.16) between school attendance and age. Family responsibilities such as cooking for younger siblings by female participants, obligations on open market days are thought to be secondary limiting factors for community development and livelihood amongst young persons;thus a follow up study would be conducted to assess their associations in this community as this would raise major child abuse concerns which would need to be reported to the legal authorities for follow up.

Garlic Extract (<i>Allium sativum</i>) Enhances Spatial Working Memory in Wistar Rats: Involvement of Hippocampal Na⁺/K⁺ATPase and Ca²⁺ATPase Activities

Hippocampus plays a central role in the acquisition and recall of both episodic and spatial memory. Studies have shown that garlic has neuroprotective effects in various capacities and enhancement of different forms of memory. However, the effect of garlic spatial memory and direct effect of garlic extract on the activities of membrane bound enzymes Na+/K+ ATPase and Ca2+ ATPase in the hippocampus of rat still remain elusive. Therefore, we studied the effect of ethanolic extract of garlic on spatial working memory using object location memory OLM test and the hippocampal Na+/K+ ATPase and Ca2+ ATPase activities. Sixteen male wistar rats weighted 120 - 150 g were used and divided into two groups of eight rats each. The control and experimental groups were treated 1ml of normal saline and 500 mg/kg body weight of ethanolic extract of garlic respectively orally for three weeks. OLM test was carried out on the two groups. Animals were sacrificed and the brains were removed, and hippocampi were carefully excised and homogenate was obtained. Homogenate was analyzed for Na+/K+ ATPase and Ca2+ ATPase activities. There was significant increase in the exploration time in experimental group when compared with control group (p +/K+ ATPase and Ca2+ ATPase activities in experimental group when compared with control group (p +/K+ ATPase and Ca2+ ATPase. Our findings provide potential mechanism and therapeutic target for memory deficit neurological disorders.