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memory of rats with ECS induced dementia. The
memory improvement may caused by an increase
in the synaptic strength between the neurons in rat’s
hippocampus or referred to as neuronal plasticity,
especially in the gyrus dentatus and CA1 hippocampus
that are responsible for spatial information (Poirer et
al., 2008).
Interestingly, unlike the rest of the treatment
groups, Group 6 that recieved steamed watermelon
juice at a dose of 3.7 g/kg BW showed a decreased
performance, even lower than normal control by 42%.
This group failed two times (i.e., 0% performance)
on the rst and second day of observation. Its second
lowest constant rate (33.3%) ocurred on Day 10, or one
day after the increased performance of the negative
control group, until the end of the observation. The
poor working memory may be behind this result.
This memory is responsible only for the information
received from one session of RAM test. It is erased
shortly before the next session of RAM test, and
therefore the rats try to habituate themselves to the
maze environment again and form a new working
memory, while making mistake (i.e., incorrect arm
entries). According to Crusio & Schwegler (2005), the
working memory is closely related to spatial memory.
The RAM test also observed reference memory that,
for example, encoded and retained information about
the food at the end of some arms. This memory is
always useful in any maze test because it has already
faded befor 24 hours. In this case, the rats must form
new memory again from scratch allowing for a 24-
hou maze test (Rao et al., 2003).
The average percentage of the group performance
in RAM II was subjected to homogeneity and
normality tests. The normality test yielded p-value
0.142 (p>0.05), while the homogeneity test resulted
in p-value 0.1 (p>0.05). The data analysis was
continued with a one-way ANOVA to determine
any statistically signicant difference between the
treatment groups in completing the maze test after the
induction of ECS. The ANOVA test produced p-value
0.000 (p<0.05), representing a signicant difference
between the groups in RAM II.
The subsequent Tukey test proved that in the
positive control group (Group 3), as well as the
treatment groups receiving 0.92 g/kg BW (Group 4)
and 1.85 g/kg BW (Group 5) of steamed watermelon
juice, the spatial memory in the rat model of dementia
improved. These three groups had a similar spatial
memory improvement to the normal control group.
The two treatment groups i.e., Group 4 and 5 showed
comparable results as well, meaning, that the groups
receiving 0.92 g/kg BW (Group 4) and 1.85 g/kg BW
(Group 5) experience an equivalent spatial memory
enhancement activity. Meanwhile, receiving steamed
watermelon juice at a dose of 3.7 g/kg BW, Group
6 exhibited signicantly different activities with
the normal and positive control groups, but it was
comparable to the negative control. In other words, the
treatment in Group 6 was not effective in increasing
the spatial memory of the experimental animals. The
effective doses of steamed watermelon juice in this
study were 0.92 g/kg BW and 1.85 g/kg BW. The
average percentage of spatial memory improvement
in these doses exceeded the positive control group
(Vitamin E, 20.7 mg/kg BW).
Theoretical oxidative damage is preventable if free
radicals and antioxidants in the body are in balance.
In this condition antioxidants will not exhibit any
effects (Asri, 2014). The antioxidative properties of
lycopene contained in steamed watermelon juice are
allegedly one of the factors that prevent ECS-induced
oxidative damage. Lycopene is a highly unsaturated
straigh-chain hydrocarbon with a total of 13 double
bonds, eleven (11) of which are conjugated. This
unique nature makes lycopene molecule a very potent
antioxidant. An in vitro study afrms that lycopene
is twice as potent as β-carotene and its singlet
oxygen quenching ability is ten times greater than ɑ
tocopherol (Rao et al., 2003).
4 CONCLUSIONS
This study concludes that the administration of
steamed watermelon juice at the doses of 0.92 g/
kg BW and 1.85 g/kg BW can improve the spatial
memory in a rat model of dementia, which is
comparable to the positive control. Treatment groups
that recieved these doses had corresponding spatial
memory enhancement activities.
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Artés-Hernández F., Robles P. A., Gómez P. A.,
Tomás-Callejas A., & Artés F., 2010. Low UV-C
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Journal. 55:114–120.
Asri, W., 2014, Peran Antioksidan Bagi Kesehatan, Jurnal
Biotek Medisiana Indonesia, Vol. 3. 2. 2014: 59-68
Crusio, E., W., & Schwegler, H., 2005. Learning Spatial
Orientation Tasks in The Radial Maze and Structural
Variation in The Hippocampus in Inbred Mice. Behavior
and Brain Function 1:3; DOI: 10.1186/1744-9081,1-3
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