Morphological analysis of the hippocampus of wistar rats submitted to neonatal anoxia and treated with melatonin

• Grant number: 23/08199-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2023
• End date: December 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Morphology - Histology
• Principal Investigator: Silvia Honda Takada
• Grantee: Gabriela Dias Almeida
• Supervisor: Alexander Drobyshevsky
• Host Institution: Centro de Matemática, Computação e Cognição (CMCC). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: NorthShore University HealthSystem, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/03679-3 - Melatonin effects on learning and memory of rats submitted to neonatal anoxia, BP.IC

Abstract

Perinatal asphyxia is a worldwide public health problem, affecting both full-term and preterm newborns, and is one of the leading causes of neonatal deaths worldwide and a cause of severe and irreversible neurological damage in individuals who survive.Currently, the only existing therapy is therapeutic hypothermia, which is ineffective in all cases. In the premature population, therapeutic hypothermia's effects seem controversial. Therefore, it is crucial to develop an experimental model of perinatal asphyxia that simulates clinical conditions in premature newborns to investigate the effects of this condition and possible complementary and/or alternative therapies. In the present model of neonatal anoxia in rodents, acute cell death was observed in the glial and neuronal populations of the hippocampus. Furthermore, it was observed decreased hippocampal neurogenesis and volume, and changes in spatial memory and learning of adult rats exposed to the neonatal anoxia. Among the possibilities of treatment is melatonin, which proved to be antioxidant and neuroprotective. This study then aims to analyze the influence of melatonin in Wistar rats subjected to neonatal anoxia, with a refined hippocampal morphological analysis, including measurements oflength, area, cortical thickness, surface curvature and volume of brain structure, by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These data will be obtained in collaboration with Prof. Alexander Drobyshevsky (NorthShore University HealthSystem), who has collaborated with our research group since 2011 and has expertise with the 'Tensor-based morphometry' technique in his lab. (AU)