ABSTRACT
Essential oils are natural products having several important chemical constituents. Traditionally used worldwide as natural alternatives for treating various pathological conditions due to their antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antifungal and antioxidants properties. Citral is one of the mono terpene present in lemon peel oil. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of citral at low [0.1 mg/kg] and high [1 mg/kg] doses. In this study rats were subjected to different behavioral parameters such as tail suspension test [TST] to monitor depressive behavior, open field test [OFT] for locomotor activity, light/dark transition test [LDT] for the assessment of level of anxiety and the strength of muscles were monitored by Kondziela's inverted screen test. Plasma corticosterone and antioxidant enzymes activities were also estimated. The results from the present study showed that citral at 0.1mg/kg dose significantly increased the mobility time in TST, increased number of square crossed in OFT, increased time spent in LDT and showed muscles strengthen activity in Kondziela's inverted screen test. Lipid per oxidation [LPO] was decreased and antioxidant profile was improved along with the decrease in plasma corticosterone following the administration of 0.1mg/kg dose of citral in rats. However, at a high dose of 1 mg/kg of citral, behavioral alterations were observed along with the increased plasma corticosterone and decreased activities of antioxidant enzymes in rats. Therefore present findings suggested that citral at low dose has therapeutic potential as compared to high dose. It can be used as an alternative therapy for the treatment of various ailments in humans and animals
ABSTRACT
This study was designed to investigate the role of enriched environment in preventing and/or reducing the neurobehavioral deficits produced after nicotine administration in albino Wistar rats. Equal numbers of rat in two groups were either placed in social environment [control group] or social along with physically enriched environment for four weeks before the administration of nicotine. Exposure to different environmental conditions was followed by the intraperitoneal injection of nicotine at the dose of 0.6 mg/kg for seven consecutive days during which addictive behavior was monitored using conditioned placed preference paradigm. Behavioral responses to locomotor activity, anxiety and retention of short term memory were investigated in control and nicotine injected groups exposed to different environments. Results of this study showed that the rats pre-exposed to physical along with social enrichment exhibited a decrease in drug seeking behavior, hyper locomotion, anxiogenic effects along with improvement of working memory as compared to control and nicotine injected groups that were kept in social environment alone. This behavioral study suggests that the exposure to physical enrichment along with socialization in young age can later reduce the chances of compulsive dependence on nicotine and related neurobehavioral deficits