Research Article Protective Effect of Solanum nigrum Leaves Extract on Immobilization Stress Induced Changes in Rat’s Brain Syed Kashif Zaidi, 1 Md. Nasrul Hoda, 2 Shams Tabrez, 3 Shakeel Ahmed Ansari, 1 Mohammad Alam Jafri, 1 Mohd Shahnawaz Khan, 4 Shirin Hasan, 5 Mohammed H. Alqahtani, 1 Adel Mohammed Abuzenadah, 1,6 and Naheed Banu 7 1 Center of Excellence in Genomic Medicine Research, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 2 Department of Neurology, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA 3 King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 4 Department of Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 5 Department of Surgery, Burn and Shock Trauma Research Institute, Loyola University, 1032 W. Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL 60660, USA 6 Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 7 College of Medical Rehabilitation, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia Correspondence should be addressed to Syed Kashif Zaidi; krzaidi76@gmail.com Received 12 November 2013; Revised 18 December 2013; Accepted 18 December 2013; Published 9 February 2014 Academic Editor: Andrew Newberg Copyright © 2014 Syed Kashif Zaidi et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Te prophylactic or curative antioxidant efcacy of crude extract and the active constituent of S. nigrum leaves were evaluated in modulating inherent antioxidant system altered due to immobilization stress in rat brain tissues, in terms of measurement of glutathione (GSH), lipid peroxidation (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, TBARS), and free radical scavenging enzymes activities. Rats were treated with single dose of crude extract of S. nigrum prior to and afer 6 h of immobilization stress exposure. Exposure to immobilization stress resulted in a decrease in the brain levels of glutathione, SOD, GST, and catalase, with an increase in thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) levels. Treatment of S. nigrum extract and its active constituents to both pre- and poststressed rats resulted in signifcant modulation in the above mentioned parameters towards their control values with a relative dominance by the latter. Brain is vulnerable to stress induced prooxidant insult due to high levels of fat content. Tus, as a safe herbal medication the S. nigrum leaves extract or its isolated constituents can be used as nutritional supplement for scavenging free radicals generated in the brain due to physical or psychological stress or any neuronal diseases per se. 1. Introduction From the last decade, it has been highlighted that majority of the human diseases or disorders are mainly related with the imbalance between oxidant and antioxidant homeostasis [1]. Several reports also indicated that stress afects synaptic plasticity, dendritic morphology, and neurogenesis in animals [2] and induces both clinical and anatomical features of neurotoxic damage in humans (i.e., posttraumatic stress dis- orders) [3]. Te precise mechanism by which stress induces brain damage is still a matter of debate. Both constitutive formation of NO and inducible expression of iNO synthase have been found to occur in the brain during chronic stress [4]. ROS are closely involved in several diseases of the ner- vous system including Parkinson’s disease, Schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease [1, 5]. Immobilization/restraint stress is an easy and convenient method to induce both psychological (aggression, escape reaction) and physical stress (muscle work) resulting in restricted mobility and aggression [6, 7]. Recently, a number of studies reported that diferent kinds of stresses resulted due to generation of stress radicals [8–11]. Among the organs in the human body, the CNS takes more than its share of oxidative abuse [1, 12, 13]. Te main factors that contribute Hindawi Publishing Corporation Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Volume 2014, Article ID 912450, 7 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/912450