Date seed extract ameliorates β-amyloid-induced impairments in hippocampus of male rats

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder among the elderly. Because the existing treatments for Alzheimer's disease only offer limited symptomatic alleviation, more efficient therapeutic agents are urgently needed. Date seed is a hepatoprotective and neuroprotective agent. Date seed extract (DSE) has bioactive components like phenolics, flavonoids, and vitamins. In view of the ameliorative effects of DSE against an oxidative injury, the current study was designed to reveal whether DSE has a neuroprotective resource in the rat model of Alzheimer's disease. In the current study, 24 adult male Sprague-Dawely rats were divided into three groups (n = 8) of: Sham (Distilled Water, 3 μl intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection), β-Amyloid (β-amyloid, 3 μl ICV injection), and DSE-treated groups (80 mg/kg, Intraperitoneal (IP) injection), for 12 days. Twelve days after Alzheimer induction, behavioral analysis, the Morris Water Maze (MWM), as well as western blot and histological studies were performed to reveal the neuroprotective potential of DSE in rats. Administration of DSE significantly restored memory and learning impairments induced by Aβ in the MWM test. DSE significantly decreased the caspase-3 expression level in the treated group. In addition, DSE reduced the number of degenerated neurons in the hippocampal CA1 subfield of the DSE treated rats. These results demonstrate that DSE may have beneficial effects in the prevention of Aβ-induced Alzheimer in a rat model. Date seed extract may have advantageous effects in preventing Alzheimer's disease in male rats.