Neuroprotective role of argan oil against alcohol use disorders in adolescent wistar rat

Argan oil (AO) is renowned for its particular biochemical profile: high-fat oleic and linoleic acids, tocopherols, sterols, polyphenols. This composition gives it numerous beneficial pharmacological effects of mental health. This work aims to evaluate the neuroprotective role of AO against alcohol use disorders in rats.Adolescent male Wistar rats (30 days old) were treated with distilled water or ethanol (ip 3.0 g/kg, 20% w/v) during 14 days, every 2 days, for 2 consecutive days to complete 43 days of age. Two weeks before the onset of ethanol intoxication, rats were daily administered by oral gavage with AO (1 ml/100 g/day), for 14 weeks. In adult animals, we measured free ethanol consumption in the two-bottle choice paradigm, task and both ethanol’s rewarding and aversive properties in the conditioned place preference (CPP) and taste aversion (CTA) paradigms. General hyperactivity, convulsive behavior and withdrawal disorders were also measured in adulthood. Following behavioral assays, oxidative stress, histologic semiquantitative analysis of neurodegeneration in the hippocampus, frontal cortex and amygdala subregions, was also performed. Our results showed that ethanol intoxication during early adolescence promoted free-choice 10% ethanol consumption and induced a loss of both ethanol-induced CPP and CTA in adults. These behavioral impairments were accompanied by marked changes in all cellular populations evaluated as well as increased levels of nitrite and lipid peroxidation in the cerebral cortex. On the contrary, this vulnerability to alcohol use disorders decreases significantly (p<0.001) in AO supplemented rats. In addition, oxidative status of amygdala and the neurons level in the CA3 subregion of rats’ hippocampus were restored by AO dietary. This indicates that AO may exhibit a neuroprotection against the toxicity of ethanol in brain adolescent rats.