Efeitos da suplementação com geleia real relacionados à perda de memória e sociabilidade em camundongos induzidos ao estresse crônico

Abstract

Stress is a situation that threatens homeostasis, which is the state of stability that maintains an organism's balance. This is the body's natural reaction to physical and/or psychological stimuli that challenge this balance. Chronic stress is the type of stress that occurs constantly, whether for long periods or with high recurrence. This type of stress can lead to several psychological and cognitive problems, including memory deterioration and loss of sociability, which can be related to depression caused by stress. Since the drugs used to treat these cognitive problems can be very aggressive to the body, it is increasingly necessary to discover alternative and natural treatments for these disorders. One of the suggestions for these alternative treatments is royal jelly, which has several activities favorable to the body, such as a neuroprotective effect during stressful situations, memory and learning enhancement, capacity to increase neurogenesis, and antioxidant activity. Therefore, the present study evaluates the possibility of using royal jelly (RJ) supplementation as a treatment for memory and sociability loss in mice exposed to chronic stress. For this, the mice were induced to stress, through restriction of movement, for fourteen days. In addition, two groups were supplemented with RJ, and the other two only with water, to observe the possible reversal effects of RJ, in relation to the damage caused by stress. To analyze these effects, the animals were submitted to object recognition and social interaction tests, in order to assess memory and sociability loss. The results showed that royal jelly was able to reverse the damage caused by chronic stress, in relation to the loss of sociability. The object interaction test was not conclusive, requiring further investigation to conclude whether GR had a determining factor in reversing the effects of memory loss.