RESUMO
BACKGROUND: 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 a memory enhancer. This study was 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 50 mg/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-term memory. In addition, there was a dose dependent improvement with 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.