Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of chronic administration of chocolate brown HT or chocolate brown HT with oil on norepinephrine (NE), dopamine (DA) and gamm-aminobutyric acid (GABA) contents in different brain areas (cerebellum, striatum, cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, brain steam and hippocampus) and liver and kidney functions of male albino rats. In addition, histopathological examinations of the liver and kidney of the male albino rats were carried out. The results show that chronic oral administration of chocolate brown HT (200 mg/kg body weight (b.wt.)) caused a significant decrease in the content of norepinephrine, dopamine and gamm-aminobutyric acid in all the tested regions. This may be attributed to the inhibition of ATP formation leading to decreased synthesis or re-uptake of NE, DA and GABA in the presynaptic cell. Chronic oral administration of chocolate brown HT (200 mg/kg b.wt.) with olive oil caused no significant change in the total content of norepinephrine, dopamine and gamm-aminobutyric acid in all the tested brain areas at different time intervals. The results also revealed that the urea content and level of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase significantly increased while alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and creatinine significantly decreased in chocolate brown HT treated rat. On the other hand, administration of chocolate brown HT in combination with olive oil resulted in the amelioration of the functional analysis of the brain, liver and renal tissues which were confirmed by histological observation of the hepatic and renal tissues. Finally, it was concluded that olive oil ameliorated the unusual findings of chronic administration of chocolate brown HT due to its antioxidant capacity of capturing free radicals.

Key words: Chocolate brown HT, olive oil, NE, DA, 5-HT, GABA, brain regions, male albino rats.