Protective effect of Prunus amygdalus nut extract on chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) induced memory deficits and biochemical alterations in rats

Bhatia, Nitish; Kumar, Abhitinder; Kaur, Parminder; George, Benu; Kaur, Narinder; Khan, Masih Uzaaman; Dhawan, Ravi Kumar

doi:10.1007/s13596-020-00545-4

Research Article
Published: 21 January 2021

Protective effect of Prunus amygdalus nut extract on chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) induced memory deficits and biochemical alterations in rats

Nitish Bhatia ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9606-0419¹,
Abhitinder Kumar¹,
Parminder Kaur¹,
Benu George⁴,
Narinder Kaur²,
Masih Uzaaman Khan³ &
Ravi Kumar Dhawan¹

Advances in Traditional Medicine volume 22, pages 305–314 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Stress intervenes in the brain’s capability to encode and regain information from a person, it alters the biochemical parameters in specific regions of the brain can cause long-term damage to various parts of brain. The present investigations aid in understanding the effect of the Prunus amygdalus nut extract on CUS induced memory deficits in rats. The methanolic extract with an antioxidant potential (~ 60%) and was selected for in vivo analysis. CUS was induced in rats using different stress paradigms for 10 days. On day 11 and 12, acquisition trials for memory evaluation were performed using Morris Water Maze. On day 13 and 10 days later on, i.e. day 23, short-term and long-term memory retrievals trials were evaluated, respectively. Treatment groups were given test methanolic extract an hour before the subjection of CUS. Biochemical estimations and histopathological studies were carried out using brain tissue homogenate and brain tissue section, respectively. CUS altered the Transfer Latency time in both acquisition and retrieval trials, indicating memory impairment, which was reduced significantly in extract-treated groups. Administration of P. amygdalus nut methanolic extract protected the rat brains against CUS-induced neuroinflammatory changes. The observed beneficial effects could be attributed to the antioxidant potential of P. amygdalus.

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Acknowledgements

Authors would like to acknowledge the help given by ‘PK’ and ‘AB’ for their help in plant identification and plant extraction process.

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Authors and Affiliations

Department of Pharmacology, Khalsa College of Pharmacy, Amritsar, Punjab, India
Nitish Bhatia, Abhitinder Kumar, Parminder Kaur & Ravi Kumar Dhawan
Department of Chemistry, Khalsa College of Pharmacy and Technology, Amritsar, Punjab, India
Narinder Kaur
Department of Pharmacognosy, Unaizah College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, Buraydah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Masih Uzaaman Khan
School of Biotechnology, National Institute of Technology Calicut, Kozhikode, Kerala, India
Benu George

Authors

Nitish Bhatia
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Abhitinder Kumar
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Parminder Kaur
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Benu George
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Narinder Kaur
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Masih Uzaaman Khan
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Ravi Kumar Dhawan
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Contributions

Authors NB and RKD designed the study. Author PK and AK performed the experimental work, while the statistical analysis was done by NK. Authors NB, MUK and BG wrote the protocol and the first draft of the manuscript. Authors NB and RKD managed the analyses of the results and discussions. NB managed the literature searches. All the authors contributed to the design of the study, and read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nitish Bhatia.

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Ethical statement

Authors hereby declare that “Principles of laboratory animal care” (NIH publication No. 85-23, revised 1985) were followed. The care of laboratory animals was done as per guidelines of CPCSEA, Ministry of Forests & Environment; Government of India. The research protocol of this study was approved by Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC) of Khalsa College of Pharmacy, Amritsar.

Conflict of interest

Nitish Bhatia has no conflict of interest. Abhitinder Kumar has no conflict of interest. Parminder Kaur has no conflict of interest. Benu George has no conflict of interest. Narinder Kaur has no conflict of interest. Masih Uzaaman Khan has no conflict of interest. Ravi Kumar Dhawan has no conflict of interest.

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Bhatia, N., Kumar, A., Kaur, P. et al. Protective effect of Prunus amygdalus nut extract on chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) induced memory deficits and biochemical alterations in rats. ADV TRADIT MED (ADTM) 22, 305–314 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13596-020-00545-4

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Received: 16 September 2020
Accepted: 28 December 2020
Published: 21 January 2021
Issue Date: June 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13596-020-00545-4

Keywords

Prunus amygdalus
Chronic unpredictable stress
Memory deficits
Antioxidants
Stress