Clove (Eugenia caryophyllata (Myrtaceae; syn. Syzygium aromaticum, Caryophyllus aromaticus) is a traditional medicinal plant used for its wide ranging healing properties. Like most plants, cloves are high in antioxidant phytochemicals and have excellent free radical scavenging ability. In addition, cloves contain phytochemicals that are anti-inflammatory in nature. The presence of antioxidants and anti-inflammatories might suggest that cloves are neuroprotective as these properties are required to protect the delicate brain tissue from free radicals and inflammatory cascades that can cause significant damage to neurones. Studies investigating the effects of cloves of experimentally induced memory decline in animals have found that administration of clove oil has significant effects to reduce memory loss. In this regard cloves may reverse both short and long term memory loss in scopolamine treated rats and this may suggest that cloves could be useful as neuroprotective agents.
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RdB
