Background: Essential tremor (ET) is a common neurological disorder. Genetic, environmental and dietary factors have been suggested to contribute to ET. The present study investigates the effect of vanillin, a polyphenol food additive with strong neuroprotective activity in harmaline induced tremors in rats.
Methods: Seventy two male Sprague Dawley rats weighing 115 ± 5 g were divided into twelve groups of six animals each. Four groups were allotted to each study. Vanillin (50 mg, 100 mg, and 200 mg/kg) was administered ten minutes after the induction of tremor (therapeutic study) and before the induction of tremor (prophylactic study). In the acute prophylactic study, it was administered 30 m before and for sub-acute prophylactic study it was administered 7 days before the induction of tremor. Harmaline (10 mg/kg, IP.), was used for the induction of tremor. The latency of onset, duration, intensity of tremor and tremor index were recorded.
Results: Harmaline treatment produced characteristic tremor that lasted for more than 2 hours. Vanillin both in therapeutic and prophylactic studies failed to produce any significant change in the latency of onset of tremor. The duration of tremor was significantly reduced in both therapeutic and acute prophylactic treatment, but the reduction was not significant in sub-acute prophylactic studies, while the intensity of tremor and tremor index were significantly reduced in both the therapeutic and prophylactic studies.
Discussion: The present study suggests that vanillin ameliorates harmaline induced tremor in rats. Further detailed studies are warranted to understand the mechanism of this protection.

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