Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the neuroprotective effect of 150 mg / kg extract of the plant Pistacia atlantica against mercury-induced oxidative stress Methods: Hg was administered intraperitoneally (2,5 mg/kg body weight, one time a week), and P. atlantica and were given orally by gavage at a daily dose (150 mg/kg body weight) to rats for 32 days. 24 male adult Albinos Wistar rats were divided into four groups: group 1 Control, group 2 (HgCl2) group 3 (Hg + P. atlantica) and group 4 (P. atlantica). Paramatrical tests of oxidative stress and histological sections of the cerebral parenchyma. Results: Our results showed that the intraperitoneal injection of mercury chloride HgCl2 causes deleterious effects in the brain resulting in: a failure of redox status by disrupting the antioxidant defense system by a significant decrease in the activity of catalase glutathione peroxidase, glutathione-s-transferase and superoxide dismutase acetylcholinesterase and increase of the activity of the enzyme lactate dehydrogenase. The levels of lipid peroxidation markers were high in TBARS intoxicated rats with protein oxidation increased in the brain intoxicated by. The continuous use of mercury is also at the origin, in brain tissue However, supplementation of P. atlantica extract with mercury-treated rats attenuated some of the harmful and toxic effects of this metal. This clearly demonstrates the protective roles of this plant Keywords: mercury, Pistacia atlantica, Wistar rat, brain, antioxidant, neurotoxicity.

Chronic exposure to mercury (Hg) increases the risk of developing serious human disorders from the embryo to adulthood. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the hepatorenal protective effect of natural products such as the aqueous extract of Pistacia atlantica against the toxicity and oxidative stress induced by mercuric chloride in male rats. Adult Wistar rats weighing between 55 and 65 g were randomly assigned to 3 lots. The ani-mals were administered with mercury chloride (HgCl2) intraperitoneally for 32 days. The group intoxicated were administered with 2.5 mg/kg of HgCl2, while the group of treated by HgCl2 and P.atlantica received 2.5 mg/kg of HgCl2 and 150 mg/kg of aqueous extract of P.atlantica. The liver and kidney weight, and marker enzymes (alkaline phosphatase, serum total protein content, urea, uric acid, creatinine, direct and total bilirubin and lipid profile), the metal contents, and histopathological investigation were determinated. The results showed an decrease in levels of biochemical parameters in the serum of animals treated with HgCl2 and P. atlantica. An improvement of liver and kidney functions was also observed. The results showed that ad-ministration of Pistacia atlantica aqueous extract represents a promising candidate for the treatment of liver and renal damages.

The medicinal plants may serve as potential sources for the development of new drugs and more effective anticancer agents for future therapy. Pistacia atlantica (Vahl.) Masters (Anacardiaceae) is an important plant used in traditional medicine practice in Algeria, and North Africa countries. The present study has the objective to estimate the in vitro antiproliferative (on the RD and Hep2 human tumor cell lines using the3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium (MTT) assay) properties of the aqueous extracts of P. atlantica leaves, offering a phytochemical characterization of its aqueous extracts, by spectrophotometry methods. evealed by HPLC, phenolic compounds present among the five different flavonoids identified such as: ((epi)catechin, myricetin, quercetin and kaempferol glycoside derivatives). The MTT assay revealed that the tested extract had a good activity against Hep2 and RD cell lines with median inhibitory concentration (GI50)> 1000 μg/mL against Hep2 and (IC50) = 825,079 μg/mL against RD, (GI 50). The results showed a great bioactive potential for this species with a significant contribution of phenolic compounds, specially the flavonoids which makes it an interesting matrix in the development of novel pharmaceutical formulations. Planned future studies will involve the identification of different extract other than aqueous extract, determination of the mechanisms of action and the bioactive molecule of plant extracts. Keywords: Pistacia atlantica; aqueous extract; antiproliferative; MTT, HPLC.

The present study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the aqueous extract of Artemisia arborescens to reduce the effects of Aluminium chloride (AlCl3) on lipid parameters, blood pressure and on histological archi-tecture of sections from liver and heart of rats. Forty-eight female Wistar rats weighting 125±25g were randomly divided into four equal groups of twelve rats each. The animals were given a dose of (AlCl3) (20mg.k-1.bw) three times a week intraperitoneally and the aqueous extract of A.arborescens orally (200mg.L-1) for 06 weeks. Total cholesterol, triglycer-ides, phospholipids, HDLc, LDLc, and LDH were measured in serum and total cholesterol, triglycerides, phospholipids, TBARS in liver. The blood pressure was also recorded. Results revealed that AlCl3 caused an increase in total cholesterol and triglycerides levels, LDLc, Tchol/HDLc Ratio and LDH in serum and total cholesterol, triglycerides and TBARS in liver; however, HDL in se-rum and phospholipids in serum and hepatic tissue were decreased. AlCl3 caused elevation of the diastolic and systolic arterial blood pressure of rats and caused hepatocytic degenerations, necrosis and severe vascular conges-tion in liver, in addition to disruption of the myocardial fibers, necrosis of myocardial cells and congestion of inter-muscular capillaries in heart, while the aqueous extract of A.arborescens ameliorates these effects near to their normal values. This study suggested that the aqueous extract of A.arborescens showed lipid-lowering and hypotensive effects that protect the liver and heart against aluminium toxicity and that could possibly restore the altered hepatic and cardiac cells organization in rat intoxicated with aluminium.