Early noise exposure can induce short and long term changes on reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and catalase activity (CAT) in developing rat hippocampus that can be prevented through housing in an enriched environment during adolescence.

CAPANI, F; MOLINA, SJ; GUELMAN, LR; BUJÁN, GE

Carlos Paz

Congreso; XXXIV Annual Congress of the Argentine Society for Research in Neuroscience (SAN) 2019; 2019

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias

We have shown that early noise exposure can induce hippocampus (HC)-related behavioral, molecular and histological alterations and that housing animals in an enriched environment (EE) can be used as a preventive strategy. However, as data of HC-oxidative state have not been obtained yet, the aim of this work was to test whether noise can affect ROS levels and catalase activity in the developing rat HC as well as to assess the effectiveness of the housing in an EE. Male rats of 7 and 15 postnatal days (PND) were exposed to noise (95-97 dB, 2h) for one (N1) or five (N5) consecutive days. After weaning, rats were transferred to EE or standard cages for one or two weeks. Levels of ROS and CAT activity were tested at different times after noise exposure: short term (ST: 30min, 1 and 24h) and long term (LT: PND28 and 35). At ST, results showed a decrease in ROS levels in all groups except for PND7N1 rats, whereas, no changes were found in CAT activity. When evaluated at LT, rats exposed at PND7 showed a decrease in both ROS and CAT at PND28, whereas an increase in ROS and a decrease in CAT were found at PND35. Rats exposed at PND15 showed a decrease in CAT only at PND35. Finally, EE was effective in preventing these changes only at PND35. These findings suggest that noise exposure can differently affect HC oxidative state, according to the age of exposure, which can be detected even in adolescence. In addition, EE could be an effective strategy to prevent most of these changes.