Category: Neuropharmacology
Objective: This work assessed the tremor-lytic and prefronto-cortical properties of Nigella sativa oil in phenol-induced mice models of essential tremor.
Background: Essential tremor is a neurological disorder with 0.4% to 6% prevalence in adults. Phenol is a tremorgenic aromatic alcohol capable of distorting executive prefronto-cortical function. Nigella sativa oil is a therapeutic agent reported with prefronto-cortical benefits in rodents, including learning and memory improvements.
Method: Seventy-five (75) male mice weighing 20-25g were randomly and equally divided into five groups. They either received phenol and Nigella sativa oil concurrently (PNSC), Nigella sativa oil and phenol successively (NSP), phenol only (P), Nigella sativa oil only (NS) or normal saline only (Control) for 16 days. Anxiety and memory were assayed using elevated plus maze and novel object recognition tests respectively. Prefronto-cortical neuroarchitecture was illustrated with the haematoxylin & eosin (H&E) stain, while dopamine and glutamate were assayed spectrophotometrically.
Results: The tremorgenicity of phenol was validated in the phenol-treated mice through significantly high tremor and anxiety scores, low glutamate and dopamine levels and low recognition memories. Concurrent and prior administration of Nigella sativa oil however resulted in increased glutamate and dopamine levels, as well as in the recognition memories of the NSP and PNSC mice. Nigella sativa further led to reduction in body weight but increased the relative brain weights across the PNSC, NSP, and NS groups. No significant difference was noticed histologically across the groups.
Conclusion: Nigella sativa‘s potential in lysing tremor and prefronto-cortical executive functions was established in this study prophylactically and amelioratively, while the tremorgenicity of phenol was also validated.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
R. Folarin, O. Oyeleye, B. Surajudeen, O. Owoniyi, O. Omotosho, N. Asaye, E. Keshinro. TREMOR-LYTIC AND PREFRONTO-CORTICAL PROPERTIES OF Nigella sativa OIL IN PHENOL-INDUCED MICE MODELS OF ESSENTIAL TREMOR [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2021; 36 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/tremor-lytic-and-prefronto-cortical-properties-of-nigella-sativa-oil-in-phenol-induced-mice-models-of-essential-tremor/. Accessed May 16, 2025.« Back to MDS Virtual Congress 2021
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/tremor-lytic-and-prefronto-cortical-properties-of-nigella-sativa-oil-in-phenol-induced-mice-models-of-essential-tremor/