Positive influence of yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) on human health issues has been attributed to its frequent consumption in South American countries and is assumed to be due to its high content of antioxidant compounds, including chlorogenic acid (CGA); however, hard evidence about its positive effects under chronic stress conditions is still required. In this study, the effects of yerba mate extracts (IpE), and its main compound chlorogenic acid (CGA), on behavioral and morphological endpoints of brain damage induced by chronic restraint stress (CRS) to rats were evaluated and compared. CRS sessions were performed during 21 days. IpE (200 mg/mL, p.o.) or CGA (2 mg/mL, p.o.) were administered daily 30 min before stress. Behavioral tests comprised motor skills and anxiety-like activity. Histological (H&E) and histochemical changes were explored in three brain regions: cortex (Cx), hippocampus (Hp), and striatum (S). Rats subjected to CRS exhibited hypoactive patterns of locomotor activity. Rats receiving IpE before CRS preserved the basal locomotor activity. Stressed animals also augmented the anxiety-like activity, whereas IpE normalized exploratory behavior. Stressed animals presented cell damage in all regions. Morphological damage was more effectively prevented by IpE than CGA. Stressed animals also augmented the expression/localization pattern of the tumor necrosis factor alpha in the striatum and the expression of the glial fibrillary acidic protein in the hippocampus (stratum moleculare) and cortex, whereas IpE and CGA reduced the expression of these molecules. In turn, CGA exhibited only moderate protective effects on all markers analyzed. Our findings support a protective role of IpE against CRS, which may be related to the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of its compounds. Since CGA was unable to prevent all the alterations induced by CRS, it is concluded that the protective properties of the whole extract of Ilex paraguariensis are the result of the combined effects of all its natural antioxidant compounds, and not only of the properties of CGA.
Keywords: Antioxidant defense; Brain damage; Brain regions; Inflammation; Natural antioxidant compounds; Oxidative stress.