Enriched Environment Preserves Visual Functions And Reduces Neuroinflammation Of The Optic Nerve

ARANDA, MARCOS L.; MILNE, GEORGIA A.; CHIANELLI, MÓNICA; ROSENSTEIN, RUTH E.; GONZÁLEZ FLEITAS, MARÍA FLORENCIA; DEVOUASSOUX, JULIÁN D.; SANDE, PABLO H.; DIEGUEZ, HERNÁN H.; KELLER SARMIENTO, MARÍA I.; DORFMAN, DAMIÁN

Mar del Plata

Congreso; XXXII Congreso Anual SAN; 2017

SAN(Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias)

The therapeutic potential of environmental enrichment during neuroinflammation wasscarcely examined. Optic neuritis (ON) is an inflammatory, demyelinating, andneurodegenerative condition of the optic nerve, which might induce blindness. Weexamined the effect of enriched environment (EE) on visual pathway damageprovoked by experimental ON induced by bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injectioninto the optic nerve from Wistar rats. After LPS or vehicle injection, animals werehoused in EE or remained in standard environment (SE) for 21 days. EE housingprevented the decrease in pupil light reflex (PLR), visual evoked potentials,anterograde transport, phosphorylated neurofilament immunoreactivity, microglialreactivity, astrocytosis, myelination, axon and retinal ganglion cell number induced byLPS injection. EE prevented the increase in oxidative damage, nitric oxide synthase-2, cyclooxygenase-2, interleukin-1β and TNFα mRNA levels induced by experimentalON. In addition, EE housing increased optic nerve brain-derived neurotrophic factorlevels. When EE housing started at 4 (but not 7) days post-injection of LPS, apreservation of the PLR was observed at 21 days post-LPS, which was blocked bythe daily administration of ANA-12 from day 4 to day 7 post-LPS. Moreover, EEhousing from day 4 to day 7 post-LPS significantly preserved the PLR at 21 dayspost-injection. These data suggest that EE preserved visual functions and reducedneuroinflammation of the optic nerve.