Ambiente enriquecido, óxido nítrico sintasa neuronal y plasticidad sináptica en ratas pre-púberes, jóvenes y viejas.

LORES ARNAIZ, S.; BUSTAMANTE, J.; CZERNICYNIEC, A.; PAGLIA, N.; ARISMENDI, M.; GONZÁLEZ GERVASONI, M.; LORES ARNAIZ, M.R.

Mar del Plata

Congreso; Congreso Conjunto de Sociedades Biomédicas: SAIC-SAI-SAFE-SABiología-SABiofísicaSAN-SAF; 2004

Sociedades Biomédicas: SAIC-SAI-SAFE-SABiología-SABiofísicaSAN-SAF

Nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated in synaptic plasticity, memory and learning. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the effect of enriched environment on nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and induction of neuronal plasticity using animals of different age. Pre-pubertal (38 days) and young rats (90 days) were exposed to standard or enriched environment for 17 days while old rats (27 months) were exposed for 20 months. NOS activity and expression were determined in mitochondrial and cytosolic fractions. Mitochondrial complex I activity was also measured. Biochemical results were correlated with cognitive studies. In pre-pubertal and young rats, the effect of training in the 8-arms radial maze was evaluated. In cognitive assays, pre-pubertal and old rats exposed to enriched environment presented a better performance than their controls. In pre-pubertal rats, exposition to enriched environment produced increases of 80% and 40% in brain cytosolic and mitochondrial NOS activity and an increment of 50% in mitochondrial complex I activity. Training produced increases in NOS activity only in standard rats. In young rats, environment and training did not modify cognitive and biochemical parameters. In old rats, exposition to enriched environment produced significant increases in NOS activity and in mitochondrial complex I activity. In pre-pubertal and old rats, a higher nNOS expression was observed in brain mitochondria from enriched-reared rats. Our results give support to the hypothesis that age, environment and training modulate neuronal plasticity through NO-dependent molecular mechanisms.