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

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 . Graphic abstract