Effect of ivabradine on cognitive functions of rats with scopolamine-induced dementia

Alzheimer’s disease is among the challenging diseases to social and healthcare systems because no treatment has been achieved yet. Although the ambiguous pathological mechanism underlying this disorder, ion channel dysfunction is one of the recently accepted possible mechanism. Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels play important roles in cellular excitability and synaptic transmission. Ivabradine (Iva), an HCN blocker, is acting on HCN channels, and is clinically used for angina and arrhythmia. The current study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects of Iva against scopolamine (Sco) induced dementia. To test our hypothesis, Sco and Iva injected rats were tested for behavioural changes, followed by ELISA and histopathological analysis of the hippocampus. Induced dementia was confirmed by behavioural tests, inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress tests and histopathological signs of neurodegeneration, multifocal deposition of congo red stained amyloid beta plaques and the decreased optical density of HCN1 immunoreactivity. Iva ameliorated the scopolamine-induced dysfunction, the hippocampus restored its normal healthy neurons, the amyloid plaques disappeared and the optical density of HCN1 immunoreactivity increased in hippocampal cells. The results suggested that blockage of HCN1 channels might underly the Iva therapeutic effect. Therefore, Iva might have beneficial effects on neurological disorders linked to HCN channelopathies.