No abstract

No abstract

Background: Argan Oil (AO) has been used as a natural remedy in traditional medicine, mainly in Morocco, for several centuries. In this study, we evaluated the beneficial effects of AO dietary on vulnerability of rats to the chronic unpredictable mild stress (UCMS) using behavioral tests, biochemical and histological markers of depression or anxiety. Method: Rats were handled daily (home cage control) or subjected to the UCMS procedure during 6 weeks (i.e., from 43th to 85 Post-natal Day (PND)) (Stress group, n=12). Animals were previously administered orally by NaCl 0.9% (Control group, n=11) or AO (10 ml/kg/day) (AO+Stress group, n=12) for 10 weeks (i.e., from weaning 21th to 93 PND). The efficacy of UCMS or AO dietary on behavioral performances of the animals in the open field, the forced swimming, the light/dark, the novelty suppression of feeding and sucrose preference tests, was measured. Following behavioral assays, oxidative stress in amygdala, histologic semiquantitative analysis of neurodegeneration in the hippocampus, frontal cortex and basolateral amygdala (BLA) subregions, and corticosterone level in plasma was also performed. Results: Our data supports pharmacological and biochemical evidences for the antidepressant and anxiolytic-like effects of AO. Prolonged supplementation with AO reverses all the behavioral changes that occurred due to UCMS and restored corticosterone level in the plasma, oxidative status of amygdala and the neurons level in the CA3 subregion of rats' hippocampus. Conclusion: This study suggests that antidepressant and anxiolytic like effects of AO in adult rats can be the result of modulation of brain antioxidant enzyme activities, the activation of hippocampal neurogenesis and the modulation of HPA axis activity. However, more experiment and detailed analysis is required for definitive conclusion.

Background In addition to the biological plausibility widely described through a very large number of studies, the causal link between cannabis uses and schizophrenia disorders has become illicit internationally and given the scarcity of similar studies in Morocco. Our study consists of a prospective descriptive study in the psychiatric department of the Moulay ben Abdallah Hospital in Essaouira. The sample consisted of 95 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia according to the DSM5 criteria. The diagnostic assessment included the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale to assess the severity of positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia as well as the patient’s general psychopathology, the Clinician-Rated Dimensions of Psychosis Symptom Severity to assess the symptom severity of the psychotic dimensions according, and the Cannabis Abuse Screening Test to assess the extent of cannabis use. Results The mean age of the patients recruited in the study was 33.7 ± 9.37 years with a clear male predominance (p < 0.0001). Cannabis users compared to non-users were younger and comprised only men. Cannabis users also have a lower educational and economic level than non-users. Furthermore, a clear dose effect of cannabis uses on the onset of positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. The temporality criterion is clear in our study, since the predictivity of the parameter: “age of onset of cannabis use” is highly significant (p = 0.000). These results suggest that cannabis use can be considered as the most illicit risk factor for the development and/or onset of schizophrenia. Conclusions These results suggest that there is a causal relationship between cannabis use and/or dependence (problematic use) and the onset and/or worsening of schizophrenic disorder. This means that problematic cannabis use can be considered as a real risk factor for the emergence and development of schizophrenic disorder.