NEUROPROTECTIVE ROLE OF HERB ECLIPTA ALBA LINN. ON ACUTE AND CHRONIC UNPREDICTABLE STRESS INDUCED BEHAVIORAL, BIOCHEMICAL AND NEURO-TRANSMITTER ALTERATION IN WISTAR MALE ALBINO RAT BRAIN

Chronic stress is a risk factor for the development of many psychopathological conditions in humans, including major depression and anxiety disorders and cognitive dysfunction. It is therefore important to focus on identifying possible mechanism to prevent these stress-induced disorders. Therefore, current study was designed to investigate the effect of Eclipta alba on chronic unpredicted stress (CUS) induced behavioral dysfunction, oxidative stress and neurotransmitter levels in the discrete regions of rat brain. Animals were subjected to acute and chronic unpredictable stress for 30 days, and the effect of Eclipta alba was studied in acute and chronic stressed animals during which 200 mg/kg Eclipta alba was administered orally. Our Results revealed that stressed animals performed poorly in Novel object recognition task (NORT). Eclipta alba alleviated behavioral dysfunction in chronically stressed animals and also significantly increased antioxidant levels such as SOD, Catalase, total thiol and decreased oxidative stress markers such MDA, nitric oxide and hydrogen peroxide in discrete brain regions as compared to CUS. Further increased catecholamine and decreased 5HT due to chronic stress in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and corpus stiatum was normalized with the treatment of Eclipta alba. In conclusion, Eclipta alba can efficiently prevent stress induced neurological complications by its antioxidant and efficiently regulating altered neurotransmitters and preventing DNA Damage.