Ocimum basilicum attenuates ethidium bromide-induced cognitive deficits and pre-frontal cortical neuroinflammation, astrogliosis and mitochondrial dysfunction in rats

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder with clinical symptoms of neuroinflammation and demyelination in the central nervous system. Recently, herbal medicines are clinically effective against MS as the current disease-modifying drugs have limited effectiveness. Hence, the present study evaluated the therapeutic potential of Ocimum basilicum essential oil (OB) in ethidium bromide (EB)-induced cognitive deficits in the male rats. Further, the effect of OB (50, 100 and 200 mu L/kg) was evaluated on EB-induced neuroinflammation, astrogliosis and mitochondrial dysfunction in the pre-frontal cortex (PFC) of the animals. The EB was injected through bilateral intracerebroventricular route into hippocampus to induce MS-like manifestations in the rats. OB (100 and 200 mu L/kg) and Ursolic acid (UA) significantly reduced the EB-induced cognitive deficits in Morris water maze and Y-maze test paradigms. OB (100 and 200 mu L/kg) and UA significantly attenuated the EB-induced neuroinflammation in terms of increase in the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-alpha and IL-6) in the rat PFC. Further, OB (100 and 200 mu L/kg) and UA significantly attenuated the EB-induced astrogliosis in terms of increase in the levels of GFAP (Glial fibrillary acidic protein) and Iba-1 (Ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule-1) in the rat PFC. In addition, OB (100 and 200 mu L/kg) and UA significantly attenuated the EB-induced decrease in the mitochondrial function, integrity, respiratory control rate and ADP/O in the PFC of the rodents. Moreover, OB (100 and 200 mu L/kg) and UA significantly reduced the EB-induced mitochondria-dependent apoptosis in the PFC of the rat. Hence, it can be presumed that OB could be a potential alternative drug candidate in the pharmacotherapy of MS.