Brief ethanol doses modifies 5HT levels at Raphe obscurus in neonate rats.

MACCHIONE, A.F.; TRUJILLO, V.; ANASTASIA, A.; MOLINA, JC

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Reunión Conjunta de Sociedades de Biociencias; 2017

thanol is the most commonly abused substance that impacts the humans during early ontogeny (gestation and lactation). Ethanol effects include alterations in brain development, learning and memory, cognitive abilities and neurovegetative functions such as breathing. A major target of ethanol in the central nervous system is the serotonin (5HT) neurons involved on the respiratory regulation. Preclinical studies employing chronic and severe ethanol consumption models during pregnancy and lactation, showed a decrease in the number of 5HT-neurons and 5HT levels in the raphe system. However, the status of the serotonergic system in animal models with moderate and neonatal ethanol exposure are understudied. Thus, the main goal of this study was to evaluate 5HT levels in the raphe obscurus (ROb) nucleus in neonate rats, as a function of moderate ethanol or vehicle exposure (2.0 or 0.0g/kg, intragastrically) at postnatal days (PD) 3, 5 and 7. At PD 9, pups were intoxicated or vehicle administrated. Ninety minutes after, all pups were sacrificed and 5HT levels were immunodetected at the ROb. A significant reduction of 5HT levels was observed in pups exposed to ethanol for the first time at PD 9 and vehicle-pretreated at PDs 3, 5 & 7. Interestingly, a similar decrease in 5HT levels was also found in ethanol-pretreated pups evaluated under sobriety at PD 9. These results indicate a profound effect of ethanol upon on 5HT levels at ROb, nucleus specifically involved in breathing regulation. These data indicate that perinatal ethanol exposure is enough to alter 5HT levels in the Rob. These results became important when associating the function of the ROb on respiratory response and breathing disturbances commonly observed in neonate rats and humans, such as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.