Effect of Fructus psoraleae on ethanol induced neurodegeneration of hippocampus in wistar albino rats

Abstract

The brain, like most body organ, is vulnerable to injury from alcohol newlineconsumption (American Psychiatric Association, 1994; Rourke and Loberg, newline1996). It leads to permanent or transient cognitive deficits associated with newlinebrain shrinkage (Oscar Berman 2000). So this alcoholism has been a newlineserious problem to mankind (Philips and Cragg, 1983) but it continuous newlineto be a part of human culture and it is one of the most common newlinepsychotropic drug consumed worldwide. Alcohol consumption on health is newlinedetrimental, with an estimated 3.8% of all global deaths and 4.6% global newlinedisability adjusted life years (DALYs) attributable to alcohol (Rehm et al., newline2009). In India, alcohol causes more harm to males (6.0% of deaths, 7.4% newlineof DALYs) than in females (1.1% of deaths, 1.4% of DALYs) reflecting newlinedifferences in drinking habits, both in quantity and pattern of drinking newline(Casswell and Thamarangsi, 2009). Ethanol is a type of alcohol found in newlinealcoholic beverages and it has a number of effects. Some of its effects are newlinepoor concentration, slow reflexes, reduced coordination, slurred speech, newlinevomiting, breathing difficulties, alcohol poisoning and memory loss. In newlinethe longer term, mainly in central nervous system (CNS) it affect newlinebrain cells, decreasing brain mass, coma and death. Collectively results suggest that repeated estradiol influences newlinehippocampal neurogenisis. One proposal was that the continuous replacement newlineof neurons in the dentate gyrus provides a refreshable repository for newlinetemporary processing of new information that was later moved elsewhere for newlinelong term storage (Tanapat et al., 1999). Neuron addition in the hippocampal newlineformation does appear to be accelerated under conditions that require or newlineenhance learning (Gould et al., 1999; Kempermann et al., 1998). Hence newlinethis study was an important step toward understanding the detailed and newlineregion-wise ER IRty of hippocampal region. newline