Study The Potential Role Of Some Nutraceuticals in The Management Of Schizophrenia in The Experimental Rat Model

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous psychiatric disorder that affects an average of approximately 1% of the World's population making it the seventh most costly medical illness in the globe. It is a polygenetic disorder that is associated with environmental and neuro-developmental vulnerability factors, making it a highly complex ailment characterized by positive, negative and disorganized symptoms. The symptoms shown by schizophrenic patients that are regarded as positive include auditory and visual hallucinations, delusions, conceptual disorganization, thought disorder and paranoia. The negative symptoms include emotional blunting, anhedonia, avolition, poverty of thought and content of speech, as well as depression. The cognitive dysfunctions associated with this debilitating psychiatric disorder include impaired executive function, working memory and attention. The present study was contructed to elucidate the antipsychotic efficacy of some nutraceuticles (CoenzymeQ10 (CoQ10) and Pumpakin seed oil (PSO)), in the ketaminized rats as a good experimental model for schizophrenia. A total number of 60 male albino rats weighting 120-150g (3 months old) were used in the current study. The animals were classified into six experimental groups (10 rats/ group). -The first group: served as negative control group. -The second group: served as corn oil group -The third group was administered orally with ketamine in a dose of 25 mg/kg b.wt./day for 120 days and served as positive control group (ketaminized group). -The fourth group was administered orally with ketamine for 60 days and then treated orally with CoQ10 200 mg/kg b.wt./day simultaneously with ketamine for other 60 days. This group served as ketaminized group treated with CoQ10.