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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.

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<abstract> <p>The stress response is attached to psychosomatic and psychiatric disorders. Therefore, it is important to comprehend the underlying mechanisms influencing this relationship. Moreover, men and women respond differently to stress–both psychologically and biologically. These differences should be studied to have an enhanced understanding of the gender difference. However, researches shedding light on sex dimorphism implication have historically been insufficient. Based on observations that advocate the inclusion of sex as a biological variable in stress response, the present study was designed to explore sex differences in (i) depressive-like, (ii) anxiety-like behaviors, (iii) cognitive-like performances, and (iv) voluntary ethanol intake (VEI) in Wistar rat submitted to dexamethasone (DEX)-stress simulation. Rats were administered daily with DEX (1.5 mg/kg, s.c., 21 days) or vehicle. Behavior, cognitive, and VEI states of rats were evaluated in the following paradigms: forced swimming test (FST); saccharin preference test (SPT); open field test (OFT); elevated plus-maze test (EPMT); novelty suppressed feeding test (NSFT); spatial learning and memory in Morris water maze test (MWMT); VEI in two-bottle choice paradigm. DEX-treated rats showed a set of depression-like behaviors: increased time of immobility; reduced preference for saccharin consumption; increased anxiety-like behavior; cognitive impairments; and enhanced VEI. Sexual dimorphism was recorded in this study. Females were more impaired in FST, SPT, EPMT, NSFT, and VEI. Results demonstrate that DEX-treatment induced a behavioral alterations related to anxiety-depressive-like state with learning and memory impairments; confirm the facilitatory role of glucocorticoids on VEI and reveal sexual dimorphism in stress response.</p> </abstract>

Adolescent alcohol binge drinking constitutes a major vulnerability factor to develop cognitive disorders. However, the pathways of treatment or prevention against this susceptibility remain less explored. Argan oil (AO), commonly used in traditional Moroccan medicines, is rich in oleic and linoleic acids, polyphenols, sterols, and tocopherols. This composition gives it numerous beneficial pharmacological effects of mental health. In the current study, we evaluated the short-term and long-term AO effects on (i) memory and learning deficits induced by adolescent binge-like ethanol intoxication (ii) the oxidative status of the hippocampus (Hipp) and the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in Wistar rats. To model binge-like ethanol intoxication, every 2 days, rats received an ethanol injection (3.0 g/ kg) for 2 consecutive days across 14 days either from postnatal day 30 (PND30) to 43th (early adolescence). Two weeks before the onset of ethanol intoxication (PND21), rats were daily administered by oral gavage with AO (1ml/100g/day), for 5 or 20 weeks. The Y-Maze, Object Recognition and Morris water maze tests were used to assess the working memory, recognition memory, spatial memory and learning performance in adolescents or adults animals. Also, the catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, the lipid peroxidation and nitrite concentrations were measured using spectrophotometric methods. The AO pretreatment increased the performance of working memory, recognition memory and spatial memory in rats previously intoxicated by ethanol, regardless of the age of the animals. These behavioral improvements were accompanied by stress oxidative marked changes in Hipp and PFC. AO pretreatment produces also significant decrease of the lipid peroxidation and nitrite levels. On the contrary, AO increased the catalase and SOD activities in adolescents and adults animals. For the first time, our results suggest that AO pretreatment is capable of attenuating cognitive impairments and oxidative stress in the Hipp and PFC of Wistar rats. This indicates that AO may exhibit a neuroprotection against the toxicity of ethanol in brain adolescent rats.