Effects of environmental tobacco smoke during early postnatal brain development in myelination

• Grant number: 13/10067-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): August 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): January 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Pharmacy - Toxicological Analysis
• Principal Investigator: Tania Marcourakis
• Grantee: Natalia Trigo Balestrin
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), which is composed of both mainstream and side stream smoke, is one of the most common indoor pollutants and affects approximately 40% children, 35% women and 33% men in the world. ETS in childhood is associated with cognitive and neurobehavioral impairments, such as depression, impulsivity, conduct disorder and drug abuse. Brain development represents a period of vulnerability and several substances can induce neurotoxicity in this phase. Studies in rodents have shown that these effects are more evident when the exposure occurs during the first two postnatal weeks, period characterized by processes like synaptogenesis and myelination. Previous study from our group showed that ETS exposure during postnatal early brain development induce impairment in cognitive functions that may be associated with injury in synaptic transmission. Moreover, we observed that mice exposed to ETS showed a significant decrease in percentage of myelinated fibers in optic nerve in childhood. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of ETS exposure in early postnatal period in protein expression at different stages of myelination: Olig-1, a marker of early stage and myelin basic protein (MBP), a marker of late stage, in cerebellum, brainstem, diencephalon and telenchephalon. (AU)