Alterations in oxidative mechanisms in the brain during early development stages

CAROLINA ROMERO; DAMIÁN MAUR; ANA MARÍA GENARO; MARÍA A ZORRILLA ZUBILETE

Los Cocos, Córdoba

Congreso; XXI Reunión Anual Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias.; 2006

XXI Reunión Anual Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias.

The effect of stress during early development stages induces both immediate and later alterations that are reflected through changes in the neuroendocrine, cognitive and behavioral systems. However, the intracellular mechanisms involved in these alterations have not been fully elucidated. Nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role controlling neuronal activity. The aim of this work was to study whether alterations in NOS expression and activity were implicated in neurodegenerative processes induced by prenatal stress (PS). Wistar Rats were stressed by restraint from day 14 of pregnancy until delivery. Behavioral, molecular biological, and neurochemical methods were applied to investigate the offspring for developmental alterations in the brain at different ages. The results showed that animals subjected to prenatal stress presented an early increase in constitutive NOS activity and expression both in cerebellum and hippocampus. This could be correlated with behavioral deficits in adulthood, namely increased immobility in the radial maze test and reduced retention of a passive avoidance task, previously observed.