Impaired central respiratory chemoreflex in an experimental genetic model of epilepsy

Autor(es)

Totola, Leonardo T. ; Takakura, Ana C. ; Oliveira, Jose Antonio C. ; Garcia-Cairasco, Norberto ; Moreira, Thiago S.

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-LONDON; v. 595, n. 3, p. 983-999, FEB 2017.
• Citações Web of Science: 10

Resumo

Respiratory disorders may involve changes in serotonergic neurotransmission at the level of the chemosensitive neurons located in the retrotrapezoid nucleus (RTN). Here, we investigated the central respiratory chemoreflex and the role of serotonergic neurotransmission in the RTN with a rat model of tonic-clonic seizures, the Wistar audiogenic rat (WAR). We found that naive or kindled WARs have reduced resting ventilation and ventilatory response to hypercapnia (7% CO2). The number of chemically coded (Phox2b(+)/TH-) RTN neurons, as well as the serotonergic innervation to the RTN, was reduced in WARs. We detected that the ventilatory response to serotonin (1 mM, 50 nl) within the RTN region was significantly reduced in WARs. Our results uniquely demonstrated a respiratory impairment in a genetic model of tonic-clonic seizures, the WAR strain. More importantly, we demonstrated an overall decrease in the number of neurons located in the ventral respiratory column (VRC), as well as a reduction in serotonergic neurons in the midline medulla. This is an important step forward to demonstrate marked changes in neuronal activity and breathing impairment in the WAR strain, a genetic model of epilepsy. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 07/50261-4 - Neurociências, epilepsia e arte: caracterização interdisciplinar da cepa WAR e modelos de epilepsia correlacionados: as oficinas Da Vinci, divulgação científica e quebras de estigmas em epilepsia
• Beneficiário: Norberto Garcia Cairasco
• Linha de fomento: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Temático
• Processo FAPESP: 14/22406-1 - Alterações respiratórias anatomofuncionais observadas em um modelo experimental da Doença de Parkinson
• Beneficiário: Ana Carolina Thomaz Takakura
• Linha de fomento: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 05/56447-7 - Pesquisa através de imagens por ressonância magnética de alto campo destinadas a estudos em humanos
• Beneficiário: João Pereira Leite
• Linha de fomento: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa CINAPCE - Temático