Comparative Effects of Taurine, Vitamin E and Nuclea latifolia (Stem‐Bark) Extract on Object Regonition and Anxiety on Wistar Rats Subjected to Water Immersion Restraint Stress

Abstract

Stress is the feeling of emotional or physical tension, that may arise from any event or thought that makes person become frustrated, angry, or nervous. Anxiety and cognitive impairment can be normal during stressful situations. The comparative effect of Taurine, Vitamin E, and Nuclea Latifolia (Stem back) extract object recognition and anxiety in wistar rats subjected to water immersion restraint stress was carried out. Total of twenty four rats weighing between 100g – 120 g were used for this study. The animals were divided into four groups before the commencement of the experiment as follows: Group A: Serves as the control and received 1ml/kg distilled water for three weeks. Group B: Received 0.2 ml/kg vitamin E for three weeks. Group C: Received 200 mg/kg taurine (TAU) for three weeks and Group D: Received 200 mg/kg of Nauclea latifolia (NL) (stem bark) extract for three weeks. At the end of the three weeks, animals were starved for 24 hours before the commencement of the stress procedure. They were anesthetized using chloroform vapour after which they were restraint on a wooden plank (25 by 19 cm) with the four arms anchored horizontally and were immersed into water up to the xiphoid level for two hours. After the stress procedure, object recognition task and anxiety behaviours were assessed. The result of the training phase on object recognition showed that, TAU group explored the novel object more (64.92 %) followed by Vit. E group (63.90 %). The NL group has the least percentage (52.75 %) in exploring the novel object that was presented to the animals. During the test phase, it was noticed that, the TAU together with Vit. E groups showed similar behaviour with that of the training phase as they explored the Novel object presented to them more (71.52 %) and (70.05 %) respectively. On the anxiety model, while the Vit. E group shows significant increase in the number of entries into the open arm, the Tau group revealed significant decrease in the number of entries into the closed arm. Vit. E, Tau and NL groups showed significant increase in time spent by the animals in the open arm. The researched therefore, showed that Taurine and Vitamin E improved object recognition in the rats and also inhibited anxiety‐like behavior in Wistar rats that were subjected to water immersion restraint stress.Support or Funding InformationPersonal Funding