The effect of methylazoxymethanol (MAM) administration at the 15th gestational day on some behavioural and morpho-functional parameters of rat brain was investigated. The effect of a 13-15-day treatment of acetyl-L-carnitine on the same parameters was also assessed. MAM microencephalic rats showed a significant impairment in water-maze and pole-climbing tests. The histochemical reactivity of the enzyme NADH2-tetrazolium reductase (NADHR) at the level of frontal and occipital cortex, neostriatum and hippocampus was remarkably reduced. Also cholinacetyltransferase (ChAT) immunoreactivity within nerve cell bodies of the pontine tegmentum was decreased in MAM-treated animals. On the contrary, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) reactivity was increased in all the investigated brain areas with the sole exception of the neostriatum. Nissl reactivity was decreased in the cytoplasm of the pyramidal neurons of the frontal cortex and hippocampus, and slightly increased in the cytoplasm of pyramidal neurons of the occipital cortex of MAM microencephalic rats. Acetyl-L-carnitine treatment improved the behaviour of microencephalic rats in water-maze and pole-climbing tests. Moreover the substance stimulated NADHR reactivity in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus as well as ChAT immunoreactivity in the cytoplasm of neurons of the raphe pontine nuclei. Pharmacological treatment reduced AChE reactivity in the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus, and improved the pattern of Nissl reactivity within all brain areas examined.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Improved learning in microencephalic rats.
Congenit Anom (Kyoto)
March 2010
Department of Histology and Neurobiology, Dokkyo Medical University School of Medicine, Mibu, Japan.
ABSTRACT Environmental enrichment (EE) facilitates recovery from behavioral abnormalities and spatial memory disabilities in several neurological disease models. Exposure to EE improves spatial memory acquisition and enhances the survival of newly generated cells in the dentate gyri of adult rodents. However, the effects of EE on spatial learning and neurogenesis in the methylazoxymethanol acetate-induced microencephalic rat have not been investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAmyloid precursor protein processing in vivo--insights from a chemically-induced constitutive overactivation of protein kinase C in Guinea pig brain.
Curr Med Chem
May 2003
Paul Flechsig Institute for Brain Research, Department of Neurochemistry, University of Leipzig, Jahnallee 59, 04109 Leipzig, Germany.
Aberrant proteolytical processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) gives rise to beta-amyloid peptides, which form deposits characteristic for the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients. From in vitro studies, protein kinase C (PKC) is known for almost 20 years to be involved the secretory pathway of APP processing, resulting in the reduced generation of beta-amyloid peptides. However, the toxicity of activators of PKC, such as phorbol esters, has prevented to test the hypothesis of an inverse regulation of secretory APP processing and beta-amyloid generation in vivo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKinetic assessment of the effects of task difficulty, microencephaly, and a response manipulandum alteration on the rate of fixed-ratio discrimination acquisition.
Exp Clin Psychopharmacol
November 2002
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Kansas, School of Pharmacy, Lawrence 66045-2505, USA.
Fixed-ratio discrimination (FRD) training session-accuracy curves were constructed using first-order, nonlinear regression and probit analyses to determine maximal (asymptotic) accuracy and the number of sessions required to reach half-maximal accuracy. Increased FRD difficulty (reductions in the differences between the 2 fixed-ratio values to be discriminated) and a training parameter change each increased the number of sessions required to reach half-maximal accuracy and decreased maximal FRD accuracy (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe distribution of serotonergic nerves in microencephalic rats treated prenatally with methylazoxymethanol.
Neurochem Res
April 2000
Department of Psychiatry, National Defense Medical College, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan.
Prenatal exposure of pregnant rats to methylazoxymethanol acetate (MAM) induces microencephaly in the offspring. In the present study of these microencephalic rats (MAM rats) we used quantitative autoradiography to investigate [3H] paroxetine binding sites, which are a selective marker of serotonin (5-HT) transporters (5-HTT). The binding in the accumbens, cortex, hippocampus, and dorsolateral thalamus was significantly increased in MAM rats, compared to the control rats, while there was a significant decrease in the dorsal raphe nucleus of the MAM rats.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDelayed 5-HT release in the developing cortex of microencephalic rats.
Neuroreport
April 1999
Department of Histology and Neurobiology, Dokkyo University School of Medicine, Mibu, Tochigi, Japan.
Postnatal changes in the fiber distribution and release of 5-HT in the somatosensory cortex (Sm) of methylazoxymethanol acetate (MAM)-induced microencephalic rats were studied. A transient accumulation of serotonergic fibers was observed in the Sm of the control and MAM rats in the first 2 weeks following birth. However, the density of serotonergic fibers was higher in the MAM rats than in the controls, and the distribution pattern of serotonergic fibers was more extensive in the MAM rats.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!