Beneficial effect of Hordeum vulgare extract against aluminum chloride induced neurotoxicity in Wistar rats

Abstract

Aluminum is present in medicines and food. Its toxicity induces deleterious effects in various living organisms. At the same time, Hordeum vulgare a cereal known as an important nutritional source and also endowed with bioactive molecules. The objective of this study was to evaluate, on the one hand, the modifications induced by aluminum chloride in Wistar rats at the cerebral level and, on the other hand, to test the efficacy of the barley extract, Hordeum vulgare, (HEV) to restore the harmful effects of this studied metal with a concentration of 13 ml HEV/kg/day for a period of 21 days. The extraction of HEV by maceration resulted in an aqueous extract with a yield of 10.70%. Exposure to AlCl3 at a concentration of 100mg/kg, permitted to observe that the concentration of aluminium at the brain level is significantly high (p<0.05) in the intoxicated rats compared to the control rats. On the other hand, the activity of alkaline phosphatase (PAL), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) indicated a decrease in the intoxicated rats. Indeed, the histological study showed very pronounced lesions in the brains of the poisoned rats resulting in necrosis and cellular spongiosis. In addition, the administration of HEV restored the activity of the various antioxidant enzymes with an improvement in brain tissue architecture in intoxicated rats treated with HEV which justifies the therapeutic virtues of H. vulgare in protecting against aluminium chloride-induced neurotoxicity.