Armando Cardoso

Effects of repeated electroconvulsive shock seizures and pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus on emotional behavior in the rat

Affective symptoms are frequently observed in patients with epilepsy. Although the etiology of these behavioral complications remains unknown, it is possible that brain damage associated with frequent or prolonged seizures may contribute to their development. To address this issue, we examined the behavioral sequelae of repeated brief seizures evoked by electroconvulsive shock (ECS) and compared them with those resulting from prolonged status epilepticus (SE) induced with pilocarpine. Using the open-field and elevated plus-maze tests, we detected the presence of behavioral alterations indicative of elevated levels of anxiety in rats that were administered a course of ECS seizures. Fear conditioning was also enhanced in these animals. However, the rats that had experienced SE exhibited less anxiety-like behavior than controls and were severely impaired in fear conditioning. These results support the notion that brain lesions caused by either brief repeated seizures or SE is sufficient to induce some affective disturbances.

Loss of synapses in the entorhinal-dentate gyrus pathway following repeated induction of electroshock seizures in the rat.

The goal of this study was to answer the question of whether repeated administration of electroconvulsive shock (ECS) seizures causes structural changes in the entorhinal‐dentate projection system, whose neurons are known to be particularly vulnerable to seizure activity. Adult rats were administered six ECS seizures, the first five of which were spaced by 24‐hr intervals, whereas the last two were only 2 hr apart. Stereological approaches were employed to compare the total neuronal and synaptic numbers in sham‐ and ECS‐treated rats. Golgi‐stained material was used to analyze dendritic arborizations of the dentate gyrus granule cells. Treatment with ECS produced loss of neurons in the entorhinal layer III and in the hilus of the dentate gyrus. The number of neurons in the entorhinal layer II, which provides the major source of dentate afferents, and in the granular layer of the dentate gyrus, known to receive entorhinal projections, remained unchanged. Despite this, the number of synapses established between the entorhinal layer II neurons and their targets, dentate granule cells, was reduced in ECS‐treated rats. In addition, administration of ECS seizures produced atrophic changes in the dendritic arbors of dentate granule cells. The total volumes of entorhinal layers II, III, and V–VI were also found to be reduced in ECS‐treated rats. By showing that treatment with ECS leads to partial disconnection of the entorhinal cortex and dentate gyrus, these findings shed new light on cellular processes that may underlie structural and functional brain changes induced by brief, generalized seizures.

Nerve growth factor restores the expression of vasopressin and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of aged rats.

Aging leads to a decrease in the number of neurons expressing vasopressin (VP) and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the rat. Similar results were observed following prolonged alcohol consumption and withdrawal. In the latter circumstances, the administration of nerve growth factor (NGF) restored the synthesis and expression of those neuropeptides despite the absence of TrkA receptors in SCN neurons. Thus, we decided to test whether the administration of NGF would improve the expression of neuropeptides in the SCN of aged rats. For this purpose, NGF was delivered intraventricularly to aged rats over a period of 14 days. The somatic volume and the total number of VP- and VIP-immunostained SCN neurons were estimated by applying stereological methods. No age-related variations were found regarding the volume of the neuronal cell bodies. Yet, a striking reduction in the number of VP- and VIP-immunoreactive neurons was detected in aged animals and found to be completely retrieved by NGF. This finding shows that exogenous NGF administered to aged rats restores the neurochemical phenotype of the SCN. This might occur either through direct signaling of SCN neurons via p75NTR or through enhancement of the cholinergic input to the SCN.

Protective effects of a catechin-rich extract on the hippocampal formation and spatial memory in aging rats

Green tea (GT) displays strong anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties mostly attributed to (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), while experiments focusing on other catechins are scarce. With the present work we intended to analyze the neuroprotective effects of prolonged consumption of a GT extract (GTE) rich in catechins but poor in EGCG and other GT bioactive components that could also afford benefit. The endpoints evaluated were aging-induced biochemical and morphological changes in the rat hippocampal formation (HF) and behavioral alterations. Male Wistar rats aged 12 months were treated with GTE until 19 months of age. This group of animals was compared with control groups aged 19 (C-19M) or 12 months (C-12M). We found that aging increased oxidative markers but GTE consumption protected proteins and lipids against oxidation. The age-associated increase in lipofuscin content and lysosomal volume was also prevented by treatment with GTE. The dendritic arborizations of dentate granule cells of GTE-treated animals presented plastic changes accompanied by an improved spatial learning evaluated with the Morris water maze. Altogether our results demonstrate that the consumption of an extract rich in catechins other than EGCG protected the HF from aging-related declines contributing to improve the redox status and preventing the structural damage observed in old animals, with repercussions on behavioral performance.

Reduced density of neuropeptide Y neurons in the somatosensory cortex of old male and female rats: relation to cholinergic depletion and recovery after nerve growth factor treatment

Synthesis of neuropeptide Y in the neocortex and activity of the basalocortical cholinergic system are both reduced in the aging brain. We hypothesized that, by stimulating the activity of the basal forebrain cholinergic neurons, nerve growth factor might also be capable of restoring the synthesis of neuropeptide Y in cortical neurons. Old male and female rats were intraventricularly infused with nerve growth factor for 14 days and their brains were analyzed in order to quantify the densities of neuropeptide Y-immunoreactive neurons and of fiber varicosities stained for vesicular acetylcholine transporter protein in layers II/III, V and VI of the primary somatosensory barrel-field cortex. The areal densities of neuropeptide Y neurons and of vesicular acetylcholine transporter protein varicosities in all cortical laminae were found to be dramatically decreased in old rats when compared with young rats. However, infusions of nerve growth factor, known to exert a powerful trophic effect upon cortically projecting cholinergic neurons, have led to considerable recovery of vesicular acetylcholine transporter protein-positive terminal fields, which was paralleled by complete restoration of function in neuropeptide Y-producing neurons. With respect to the gender differences, although the density of cortical neuropeptide Y neurons was found to be significantly higher in young females than in young males and the opposite was true for vesicular acetylcholine transporter protein-positive varicosities, the general pattern of age- and treatment-related changes in these neurochemical markers was similar in both sexes. Overall, the age- and treatment-related variations in the density of cortical neuropeptide Y cells were found to correlate with those observed in the density of vesicular acetylcholine transporter protein varicosities. These results lend support to the idea that there is a causal relationship between age-related changes in cortical cholinergic and neuropeptide Y-ergic neurotransmitter systems.

Seizure-induced changes in neuropeptide Y-containing cortical neurons: Potential role for seizure threshold and epileptogenesis

Seizure activity induces transient changes in the levels of neuropeptide Y (NPY) and somatostatin (SS) in various brain regions, but it remains unclear whether this effect can persist for long periods and whether it is relevant to epileptogenesis. We report that brief seizures evoked by electroshock produced an increase in the number of NPY neurons in the dentate hilus and retrosplenial cortex, an effect that lasted 10 weeks. The number of hilar SS neurons remained unchanged. However, the pentylenetetrazole seizure threshold was somewhat decreased in electroshock-treated rats. Despite this, no spontaneous seizures were detected in this group. In contrast, status epilepticus (pilocarpine model) produced loss of the hilar NPY and SS cells. Moreover, all rats with status epilepticus showed spontaneous behavioral seizures and their seizure threshold was markedly decreased. These findings support the notion that sustained NPY overexpression induced by brief seizures can be important in preventing epileptogenesis.

Caloric restriction in young rats disturbs hippocampal neurogenesis and spatial learning

It is widely known that caloric restriction (CR) has benefits on several organic systems, including the central nervous system. However, the majority of the CR studies was performed in adult animals and the information about the consequences on young populations is limited. In this study, we analyzed the effects of young-onset CR, started at 4weeks of age, in the number of neuropeptide Y (NPY)-containing neurons and in neurogenesis of the hippocampal formation, using doublecortin (DCX) and Ki67 as markers. Knowing that CR treatment could interfere with exploratory activity, anxiety, learning and memory we have analyzed the performance of the rats in the open-field, elevated plus-maze and Morris water maze tests. Animals aged 4weeks were randomly assigned to control or CR groups. Controls were maintained in the ad libitum regimen during 2months. The adolescent CR rats were fed, during 2months, with 60% of the amount of food consumed by controls. We have found that young-onset CR treatment did not affect the total number of NPY-immunopositive neurons in dentate hilus, CA3 and CA1 hippocampal subfields and did not change the exploratory activity and anxiety levels. Interestingly, we have found that young-onset CR might affect spatial learning process since those animals showed worse performance during the acquisition phase of Morris water maze. Furthermore, young-onset CR induced alterations of neurogenesis in the dentate subgranular layer that seems to underlie the impairment of spatial learning. Our data suggest that adolescent animals are vulnerable to CR treatment and that this diet is not suitable to be applied in this age phase.

Retrosplenial granular b cortex in normal and epileptic rats: a stereological study.

Human temporal lobe epilepsy and experimental models of this disease are associated with loss of neurons and other structural alterations in several limbic brain structures including the hippocampal formation and adjacent parahippocampal cortical areas. The goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that seizure activity can produce damage to the retrosplenial granular b cortex (Rgb) which is known to be strongly connected with other limbic structures implicated in epilepsy. To test this hypothesis, we estimated, using stereological methods, the volumes and total neuronal numbers in Rgb cortex of rats that had experienced prolonged status epilepticus induced by pilocarpine (350 mg/kg), rats treated with six electroshock seizures (the first five seizures were spaced by 24-h intervals, whilst the last two were only 2 h apart), and control rats. Adult male Wistar rats were used in this experiment. Status epilepticus produced significant loss of neurons in Rgb cortical layers IV (22%) and V (44%), which was accompanied by volume reductions in layers I (17%), IV (11%), V (18%) and VI (24%). In electroshock-treated rats, the volume of Rgb cortical layer VI was reduced by 17% and the number of neurons estimated in layer V was smaller by 16% relative to control rats. Thus, the finding that status epilepticus and administration of brief generalized seizures both lead to degenerative morphological alterations in Rgb cortex provides the first experimental support for the hypothesis that this cortical area can be involved in seizure activity, as suggested by its anatomical connections.

Prolonged protein deprivation differentially affects calretinin- and parvalbumin-containing interneurons in the hippocampal dentate gyrus of adult rats

Protein deprivation is a detrimental nutritional state that induces several deleterious changes in the rat hippocampal formation. In this study, we compared the effects of protein deprivation in the number of parvalbumin (PV)-immunoreactive and calretinin (CR)-immunoreactive interneurons of the dentate gyrus, which are involved in the control of calcium homeostasis and fine tuning of the hippocampal circuits. Two month-old rats were randomly assigned to control and low-protein diet groups. The rats of the latter group were fed with a low-protein diet (8% casein) for 6 months. All animals were perfused at 8 months of age. The number of neurons expressing CR in the molecular layer and in the hilus of dentate gyrus was reduced in protein-deprived rats. Conversely, protein deprivation increased the number of PV-containing interneurons in the dentate granule cell layer and hilus. These results support the view that protein deprivation may disturb calcium homeostasis, leading to neuronal death including GABAergic interneurons expressing CR. In the other hand, the up-regulation of PV cells may reflect a protective mechanism to counteract the calcium overload and protect the remaining neurons of the dentate gyrus.

Prolonged protein deprivation, but not food restriction, affects parvalbumin-containing interneurons in the dentate gyrus of adult rats

Several studies have demonstrated the vulnerability of the hippocampal formation to malnutrition. In this study, we compared the effects of food restriction and protein malnutrition in the total number of neurons of the dentate gyrus and in the number of parvalbumin-immunoreactive (PV-IR) interneurons, which are related to the control of calcium homeostasis and fine tuning of the hippocampal circuits. Two month-old rats were randomly assigned to control, food-restricted and low-protein diet groups. After 6 months, 10 rats from the low-protein diet group were selected at random and fed with a normal protein diet for 2 months. The total number of granule and hilar cells was reduced in protein-deprived rats and the nutritional reestablishment with a normal protein diet did not recover neuron numbers. Protein deprivation increased the number of PV-IR interneurons in the granule cell layer and hilus, but their number returned to values similar to controls after nutritional rehabilitation. Food restriction did not affect the total number of neurons or the density of PV-IR interneurons in the dentate gyrus. These results support the view that protein deprivation may disturb calcium homeostasis, leading to neuronal death. The up-regulation of PV-IR cells may reflect a protective mechanism to counteract the calcium overload and protect the remaining neurons of the dentate gyrus. This imbalance in cell-ratio favoring GABAergic interneurons may justify some learning and memory impairments described in protein-deprived animals. This contrast between the results of food restriction and protein deprivation should be further analyzed in future studies.