Vitamins C and E Support Memory During Stress

In a new study, vitamin C and vitamin E were shown to enhance memory under stressful conditions. Previous research suggests that memory and cognition is influenced by stress, possibly through oxidative stress and neurotrophins, which are proteins that support neuron growth and survival.

Some of the rats in this study were subjected to different stressors for 40 days. Half of these rats were supplemented with 40 mg/kg of vitamin E and 100 mg/kg of vitamin C daily. The rats were evaluated for memory performance using maze tests. Also, levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor were measured in the hippocampus, which is the area of the brain involved in memory consolidation and spatial navigation.

The study showed that the stressed rats had decreased performance in tasks of reference memory and working memory. Supplementation with vitamin E and vitamin C mitigated some of these changes, suggesting the participation of oxidative stress in such effects. There was no change in brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the hippocampus of the stressed rats compared to the control group.

The study authors stated that these findings suggest that vitamin C and vitamin E enhance memory and cognition under stressful conditions.

Reference:

Tagliari B, Scherer EB, Machado FR, Ferreira AG, Dalmaz C, Wyse AT. Antioxidants Prevent Memory Deficits Provoked by Chronic Variable Stress in Rats. Neurochem Res. 2011 Aug 7. Published Online Ahead of Print.