Keywords: 
• verbascoside /
• memory impairment in hypoxic /
• eight-arm maze /
• oxidative stress

Abstract: Objective To investigate the effects and mechanism of verbascoside on hypoxia-induced memory impairment. Methods The eight-arm maze was used to train mice's spatial memory ability. After successful training, mice were randomly divided into five groups:a normoxic control group (distilled water, 0.1 ml/10 g), hypoxic model group (distilled water, 0.1 ml/10 g), the verbascoside low dose group (50 mg/kg), medium dose group(150 mg/kg), and high dose group(300 mg/kg) were administered orally once a day for a total of 7 days. After administration on the fourth day, except for the normoxic control group was placed in the animal room (1 500m), the remaining four groups were placed in a large-scale hypobaric chamber to simulate the hypoxic environment of the plateau (7 500 m, 3 days). Eight-armed maze test (4 000 m) was used and the plasma and brain tissues were dissected out and measured for reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the brain, malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH) and total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activity in plasma and brain. Results Compared with the normoxic control group, the indexes of the eight-armed maze, ROS and MDA in the brain, MDA in the plasma of the hypoxia model group were significantly increased, and the GSH and T-SOD enzyme activities in the brain and plasma were notably decreased. Compared with the hypoxic model group, the indexes of the eight-armed maze, ROS and MDA in the brain, MDA in the plasma in the various groups of verbascoside were reduced more or less, the GSH and T-SOD enzyme activities in the brain and plasma slightly were increased. Conclusion Verbascoside could ameliorate the hypoxic memory impairment at high altitude, which might be related to the stabilization of the body's antioxidant enzyme system balance and reduce oxidative stress.