Introduction of Cistanche phelypaea fatty acids as a new natural neurotrophic supplement by evaluating its effects in normal and Alzheimer’s diseased rats

The incidence of the neurodegenerative disease "Alzheimer's"(AD) is expected to reach up to 2.1 billion people aged 60 years old by 2050. Unsaturated fatty acids have been implicated in both protective and detrimental roles in AD. However, there is currently limited understanding of how varying levels of disease pathology in the brain influence the abundance of these fatty acid species. Within this framework, the present study aims to estimate the effect of fatty acids extracted from Cistanche phelypaea (C. phelypaea) on rats' memory and behaviour. The fatty acids (FAs) extracted from the wild C. phelypaea were identified using GLC. Most of the FA were unsaturated. Oleic acid was the predominant fatty acid, followed by palmitic and linoleic acids. The study was conducted in two parallel arms, the first arm investigated the effect of C. phelypaea FAs on normal rats, and the second arm investigated its effect on Alzheimer's disease rats and involved the following groups of rats: normal & untreated AD groups, reference group: donepezil (0.75 mg/kg), & C. phelypaea groups (100 and 200 mg/kg), all treatments were given concomitantly with AlCl₃ (172.5 mg/kg) to rats, by oral gavage for 3 successive weeks, followed by alternating Y-maze & grid floor activity cage tests, then the levels of acetylcholine esterase (AchE), β-amyloid and tau protein were measured in rats' sera of rats. Finally, histopathological examination of rats' brains was done. In both arms, C. phelypaea, the number of movements in the grid floor activity cage was compared to normal and untreated AD groups. In the second arm, both doses reduced the level of AchE; the high dose only reduced β-amyloid compared to untreated AD. The results were consistent with the histopathologic results. C. phelypaea FAs had promising effects on brain health.