Neuromodulatory effects of caffeine against chlorpyrifos induced behavioral and biochemical alterations in male Wistar rats

Pesticides are ubiquitous environmental contaminants due to agricultural use, causing significant short and long term toxicity. Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is one of the most widely used organophosphorus insecticides (OPs) in the world, and one of the most widely used insecticides in Morocco in the Gharb region. Several studies show that chemosynthetic agents induce neurological side effects, including memory deficits and mood disorders, in exposed persons. In this study, we were interested in studying the neurotoxic effect of CPF in male Wistar rats. The treatment is carried out for 15 days during which the rats receive injections of CPF (20 mg/kg) daily. To evaluate the possible neuroprotective effects of a natural psychostimulant, the rats received during the same period 40 mg/kg/day of caffeine (CAF). Subsequently, the rats were subjected to neurobehavioral tests evaluating the memory deficits, as well as the anxiety-depressive phenotype and assay of the markers of oxidative stress at the cerebral level. Our results clearly show that CPF induced an anxious/depressive state, impaired memory, reduced learning performance and increased oxidative stress in treated rats compared to controls. In contrast, supplementation with caffeine improves these parameters in rats.