• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.120-125
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• 2000

This study was designed to investigate the effects of silk fibroin (Mw 500) powder (SFP) on lipofuscin, acetylcholine (ACh) and its related enzyme activities in brain of rats. Sprague-Dawley (SD) male rats (160$\pm$10 g) were fed basic diet (control group), and experimental diets (SFP-2.5 and SFp-5.0 groups) added 2.5 and 5.0 g/kg BW/day for 6 weeks. In case of liver membranes, lipofuscin (LF) levels resulted in a considerable decreases (11.5% and 13.8%, respectively) in SFP-2.5 and SFP-5.0 groups compared with control group. But in case of brain as the most sensitive organ, LF levels were remarkably inhibited about 18.3% and 21.7% in SFP-2.5 and SFP-5.0 groups compared with control group. Acetylcholine (ACh) levels were considerable decrease (3.0% and 9.2%, respectively) in brain membranes of SFP-2.5 and SFP-5.0 groups compared with control group. choine acetyltranferase (ChAT) activities as a synthesis enzyme of ACh, and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activities as a hydrolysis enzyme resulted in a slight increases (2.4% and 3.0%, 4.6% and 6.3%, respectively), but significance difference between ChAT and AChE activities by SFP administration could be not obtained. Monoamine oxidase-B (MAO-B) activities were significantly inhibited (9.5% and 12.6%, respectively) in brain of SEP-2.5 and SFP-5.0 groups compared with control group. These results suggest that inhibiting effects of LF accumulation and MAO-B activity of silk fibroin(SFP) may play a pivotal role in protecting learning memory impairments by attenuating a various age-related changes for improvement of brain function.