Abstract: ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of marine collagen peptides(MCPs)on short-term and long-term neurocognitive function in asphyxial newborn SD rats.Methods70 healthy adult SD rats were selected and mated.Asphyxia model was established by "delayed cesarean section" within the last day of gestation.Then asphyxial newborn SD rats were randomly divided into a asphyxial group and the low(0.225%),moderate(0.45%),and high(1.35%)MCPs intervention groups.The normal labor newborn rats were used as the control group.The physiological and neural development index of the newborn rats were determined and Morris water maze test were performed for 21-day old and three-month old rats,respectively.ResultsThe time to expected physiological and neural development index of the asphyxial group and three MCPs intervention groups were significantly longer than that of the control group(P<0.05).Morris water maze test indicated that,at the time of 21 day,compared with the control group,the asphyxial group and three MCPs intevention groups had longer escape latency(P<0.05).The number of platform crossing of the control group,the asphyxial group,the low,moderate and high MCPs groups were 7.00±1.706,3.92±1.505,4.33±1.497,4.50±1.931,and 4.67±1.371, with significant differences(P<0.05).At the time of three-month,the escape latency of the three MCPs intervention groups were significantly shorter than that of the asphyxial group(P<0.01)and the times of platform crossing were significantly more than that of the asphyxial group(P<0.05).ConclusionCertain amount of MCPs could improve the long-term learning and memory ability of asphyxial newborn rats.