Influence of Chronic Ethanol and Caffeine on the Neuronal Cell Density and Biochemical Quantification of Cerebral Cortex of Adult Male Wistar Rats

The ingestion of high doses of caffeine in combo with ethanol so as to reduce the intoxicating effects of the alcohol is a very common practice in the society today. This practice is one of the contributing factor to the health challenges ravaging the populace. However, there is a little or no knowledge on the effect that the simultaneous misuse of these drinks has on the function of the. Hence this study aimed to examine the influence or how the chronic use of caffeine and ethanol can affect the neuronal cell density and biochemical quantification in the cerebral cortex of male Wistar rats. Fifty (50) males Wistar rats with average weight ranging between 120 – 150grams were randomly divided into five groups (n=10); Control groups C1, C2 and Treatment groups T1, T2 and T3. The control groups C1 and C2 were given distilled water and 2% sucrose solution respectively while Treatment groups T1, T2 and T3 were given 10 mg/kg body weight (bw) of caffeine in 2% sucrose solution, 25% ethanol in 2% sucrose solution and 10 mg/kg body weight caffeine dissolved in 25% ethanol in 2% sucrose solution respectively. Rats were fed with standard rat chow and drinking water was provided ad libitum for 7 weeks. The rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and the cerebral cortex of the brain specimens were processed for biochemical protocol. Results were presented as mean ± SEM and analyse using SPSS Version 12, one-way Anova was use and level of significance was set at P