Objective: To study the effects of soybean phospholipids on learning and memory abilities and contents of protein and lipids in brain of mice.
Methods: Mice were randomly divided into four groups: low dose (2.5 g/kg), middle dose(5.0 g/kg) and high dose (10.0 g/kg) of soybean Phospholipids in diet and control group (distilled water). The mice were fed with soybean phospholipids everyday while control groups were fed with distilled water for 30 days. After learning and memory abilities were measured, the mice were killed and contents of protein, fatty acids and phospholipids in brain of mice were determined.
Results: The learning and memory abilities of mice fed with middle and high dose of soybean Phospholipids were improved obviously(P < 0.05), while memory abilities of low dose's mice were stronger than that of control(P < 0.05). (2) The brain weight v.8 body weight of those in three doses' group was obviously increased, and the protein content in brain was significantly higher compared with control(P < 0.05). (3) The contents of linoleic acid(C18: 2), linolenic acid(C18: 3) and ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acids(PUFA) to total fatty acids (TFA) obviously increased (P < 0.05). In brain of high dose mice, there was obvious change in the content of linolenic acid(C18: 3) in middle's (P < 0.05). (4) The contents of phosphatidylcholine (PS) phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), Phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phospholipids (PL) obviously increase (P < 0.05), while ratio of SM to PC was decreased significantly in brain of high dose mice(P < 0.05). The contents of PS, PC and PL were increased obviously(P < 0.05).
Conclusion: Soybean phospholipids may increase contents of protein, PUFA and PL in brain of mice and improve learning and memory abilities of mice effectively in a dose-response manner.