Alcohol-induced neurotoxicity and mitigating effect of Trichocereus macrogonus stem-sap on the amygdala of Wistar rats

Alcohol is known to have neurotoxic effects on the brain, particularly on the amygdala, a pertinent brain structure for emotional processing, learning, memory, and social behavior.This study was to assess the mitigating effects of T. macrogonus (TM) stem-sap on the amygdala of alcohol-induced neurotoxicity in Wistar rats.Twenty-five adult male Wistar rats (190-240 g) were grouped into five groups of five rats each; Group A served as the control and was administered with 10 mL/kg body weight (b.w.) of distilled water; Groups B-E received 88 mg/kg of TM stem-sap, 1.34 mL/kg of alcohol, 0.13 mL/kg of alcohol + 88 mg/kg of TM stem-sap, and 1.34 mL/kg of alcohol + 264 mg/kg TM stem-sap, respectively.The administrations were oral and lasted for 21 days.A day later, the animals were sacrificed immediately after ketamine hydrochloride intraperitoneal anesthesia.Animals were perfusion-fixed with phosphate-buffered saline, the brains excised, fixed in 10% buffered formalin, processed, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) and Cresyl fast violet (CFV).The result showed there was no significant difference in body weight in all groups.Histologically, mild and moderate histomorphological alterations of the amygdala in groups D and E compared to A and C groups, respectively.CFV stain showed highly and moderately stained Nissl bodies in groups D and E, respectively.In conclusion, T. macrogonus step-sap as a neuroprotective agent was able to mitigate the damaging effect of alcohol-induced neurotoxicity but was dosage-dependent.