Abstract

Donepezil is the most common drug used in the treatment of disorders associated with memory loss, especially that in

Alzheimer’s disease.Healthy individuals however have continued to use it as amemory enhancer. This studywas aimed at evaluating

the combined therapy of donepezil and propolis on cognition in Drosophila melanogaster. Method. Drosophila melanogaster flies

were divided into five groups and fed with the different treatment doses of ethanolic extract of propolis and donepezil as follows:

normal food, propolis 250 mg/mL, propolis 50 mg/mL, donepezil 0.001M, and donepezil 0.001M/propolis 50mg/mL added to

their food. The flies were fed from larval stage for 30 days. The memory and learning tests were conducted after every 10 days

to assess improvement with time. Results.The results obtained showed that the combination of propolis with donepezil caused a

remarkable improvement in both the short- and long-termmemory. In addition, there was a dose dependent improvementwith the

administration of propolis. Conclusion. Propolis extract obtained from different parts of Uganda expressed cognitive improvement

when coadministered with donepezil in wild type Drosophila melanogaster.