BEHAVIORAL AND OXIDATIVE STATE ALTERATIONS OBSERVED IN ADOLESCENT RATS OF BOTH SEXES SUBJECTED TO VOLUNTARY ETHANOL INTAKE AND NOISE EXPOSURE CAN BE PARTIALLY RESTORED BY HOUSING ANIMALS IN AN ENRICHED ENVIRONMENT

BUJÁN, GUSTAVO EZEQUIEL, D`ALESSIO, LUCIANA, SERRA, HÉCTOR ALEJANDRO, MOLINA, SONIA JAZMÍN, GUELMAN, LAURA RUTH.

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Encuentro SAN 2022; 2022

Sociedad Argentina de Neurociencia

We have previously shown that noise exposure can induce hippocampal-related behavioral and oxidative alterations in adolescent rats. However, no data about the hippocampal (HC) oxidative state have been obtained in animals subjected to voluntary ethanol yet. Even more, a non-pharmacological neuroprotective strategy, the enriched environment (EE), has not been explored in this model.In consequence, the aim of the present work was to test whether these agents, present individually or sequentially, can affect behavior, ROS levels and catalase activity in the HC. In addition, the effectiveness of housing in an EE was also assessed.28-days-old male and female Wistar rats were housed in standard or EE cages and subjected to voluntary ethanol two-bottle choice paradigm for 1 week. After that, animals were exposed to noise and different behavioral and biochemical parameters were evaluated.Results showed that, after housing in an EE, several behavioral alterations, as well as biochemical parameters, were partially restored and differed among sexes. These findings suggest that rats exposed to physical and chemical agents during adolescence could induce sex-specific, HC-related behavioral and biochemical alterations, demonstrating a high vulnerability of the developing brain. As these changes can be partially restored by the housing in an EE, it could be hypothesized that only one week of housing in an EE could be an effective neuroprotective tool in this model.