Increases in human life expectancy have led to increases in the prevalence of senile dementia and neurodegenerative diseases. This is a major problem because there are no curative treatments for these diseases, and patients with unmanaged cognitive and neurodegenerative symptoms experience many social problems.

Sulforaphane is a type of organosulfur compound known as an isothiocyanate. It is derived from glucoraphanin, a compound found in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cabbages, via an enzymatic reaction that is triggered by plant damage (e.g., chewing). Sulforaphane exhibits activity against cancer, inflammation, depression, and severe cardiac diseases. It can also alleviate oxidative stress and neural dysfunction in the brain. However, there is insufficient knowledge about the electrophysiological and behavioral basis of the effects of sulforaphane on learning and memory.

Therefore, we evaluated whether acute sulforaphane administration affected long-term potentiation (LTP) in organotypic cultured rat hippocampal tissues. We also measured the effect of sulforaphane on the performance of three behavioral tests, the Y-maze test, the passive avoidance test, and the Morris water maze, which assess short-term memory, avoidance memory, and short and long-term spatial memory, respectively.

We found that sulforaphane increased the total field excitatory postsynaptic potential (fEPSP) in a dose-dependent manner after high frequency stimulation and attenuated scopolamine-induced interference of the fEPSP in the hippocampal CA1 area. Sulforaphane also restored cognitive function and inhibited memory impairment as indicated by the alleviation of the negative neurological effects of scopolamine, i.e, a lowered ratio of spontaneous alternation in the Y-maze, a reduced step-through latency in the passive avoidance test, and an increased navigation time in the Morris water maze.

These results indicate that sulforaphane can effectively prevent the attenuation of LTP and cognitive abilities induced by cholinergic and muscarinic receptor blockade. Further research is warranted to explore the potential therapeutic and prophylactic utility of sulforaphane for improving learning and memory, especially in those suffering from neurodegenerative disorders.

人类预期寿命的增加导致老年痴呆症和神经退行性疾病的患病率增加。这是一个主要问题，因为这些疾病没有治愈性的治疗方法，并且患有无法控制的认知和神经退行性症状的患者会遇到许多社会问题。

萝卜硫素是一种称为异硫氰酸酯的有机硫化合物。它来源于萝卜硫素，这是一种在十字花科蔬菜中发现的化合物，如西兰花、抱子甘蓝和卷心菜，通过植物损伤（例如咀嚼）引发的酶促反应。萝卜硫素对癌症、炎症、抑郁症和严重的心脏疾病具有活性。它还可以减轻大脑中的氧化应激和神经功能障碍。然而，关于萝卜硫素对学习和记忆的影响的电生理学和行为学基础知识不足。

因此，我们评估了急性萝卜硫素给药是否影响器官型培养的大鼠海马组织中的长时程增强 (LTP)。我们还测量了萝卜硫素对三种行为测试（Y 迷宫测试、被动回避测试和莫里斯水迷宫）的表现的影响，这些测试评估短期记忆、回避记忆以及短期和长期空间记忆， 分别。

我们发现萝卜硫素在高频刺激后以剂量依赖性方式增加总场兴奋性突触后电位 (fEPSP)，并减弱东莨菪碱诱导的 fEPSP 在海马 CA1 区的干扰。萝卜硫素还可以恢复认知功能并抑制记忆障碍，这可以通过减轻东莨菪碱的负面神经影响来表明，即降低 Y 迷宫中自发交替的比率，减少被动回避测试中的跨步潜伏期，以及增加了莫里斯水迷宫中的导航时间。

这些结果表明萝卜硫素可以有效地防止胆碱能和毒蕈碱受体阻断引起的 LTP 和认知能力的减弱。需要进一步的研究来探索萝卜硫素在改善学习和记忆方面的潜在治疗和预防效用，尤其是在那些患有神经退行性疾病的人中。