Our results demonstrated that melatonin possesses potent protective effect against the depression and anxiety induced by LPS. The underlying effect of melatonin is probably due to the reduction of nitric oxide toxic effect and lipid peroxidation in addition to its anti-inflammatory effect.

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Argan oil (AO) is rich in oleic and linoleic acids, polyphenols, sterols, and tocopherols. This composition gives it numerous beneficial pharmacological effects such as hypolipemiant, hypotensive, and antiproliferative. Oxidative stress is a mechanism of cell death induced by seizures and status epilepticus (SE). This study aims at investigating AO effects on (i) latency to first seizure, seizure severity, weight loss, mortality rate, (ii) lipid peroxidation level, nitrite level, and catalase activity in the hippocampus after SE induced by pilocarpine (PC). Wistar rats (1-month old) were daily administered by oral gavage with AO (1 ml/100 g/day) or with NaCl 0.9% during 2 months before receiving PC (400 mg/kg). After the PC injection, all groups were observed for 24 h. The catalase activity, the lipid peroxidation, and nitrite concentrations were measured using spectrophotometric methods. AO pretreatment increased the latency to first seizures, decreased the weight loss, and reduced mortality rate after SE. AO pretreatment produces significant decrease of the lipid peroxidation and nitrite levels. On the contrary, AO increased the catalase activity in rat hippocampus after seizures. For the first time, our results suggest that AO pretreatment is capable of attenuating seizure severity and oxidative stress in the hippocampus of Wistar rats. This indicates that AO may exhibit a neuroprotection against the temporal lobe epilepsy. Further investigations are in progress to confirm this pharmacological property.

In Morocco, Ziziphus lotus is commonly used as an urolithiatic agent in the traditional medicine. To confirm this effect, an aqueous extract of Ziziphus lotus (AEZL) has been studied in ethylene glycolinduced urolithiasis model of rats. 30 male rats were randomly divided into five groups of six animals each. Group I served as a vehicle control and received distilled water (0.5 ml/100 g p.o.). All remaining groups received calculi inducing treatment for 28 days, comprised of 0.75% v/v ethylene glycol with 1% w/v ammonium chloride in drinking water ad libitum for 3 days followed by only 0.75% v/v ethylene glycol for 25 days. Group II served as lithiatic control and received distilled water (0.5 ml/100 g p.o.). Group III served as curative treatment group and received AEZL at doses of 150 mg/kg from 14th day to 28th day. Group VI served as preventive treatment group and received AEZL at doses of 150 mg/kg from 1st day to 28th day. Group V served as therapeutic and received a drug "Cystone" at dose of 750 mg/kg from 14 th day to 28 th day. The extract treatment decreased the levels of oxalate and calcium in urine. Crystalluria analysis showed that untreated rats excreted large CaOx monohydrate and few dihydrate crystals while treated animals excreted mostly small CaOx dihydrate crystals. Significant similarity was observed between preventive and therapeutic anti-urolithiatic effect of AEZL and anti-urolithiatic effect of cystone (P<0.001). These results demonstrated that AEZL have an anti-urolithiatic effect with preventive and therapeutic treatments in this experimental condition.