Amygdalar neurotransmission alterations in the BTBR mice model of idiopathic autism.

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are principally diagnosed by three core behavioural symptoms, such as stereotyped repertoire, communication impairments and social dysfunctions. This complex pathology has been linked to abnormalities of corticostriatal and limbic circuits. Despite experimental efforts in elucidating the molecular mechanisms behind these abnormalities, a clear etiopathogenic hypothesis is still lacking. To this aim, preclinical studies can be really helpful to longitudinally study behavioural alterations resembling human symptoms and to investigate the underlying neurobiological correlates. In this regard, the BTBR T+ Itpr3tf/J (BTBR) mice are an inbred mouse strain that exhibits a pattern of behaviours well resembling human ASD-like behavioural features. In this study, the BTBR mice model was used to investigate neurochemical and biomolecular alterations, regarding Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) and Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), together with GABAergic, glutamatergic, cholinergic, dopaminergic and noradrenergic neurotransmissions and their metabolites in four different brain areas, i.e. prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, amygdala and hypothalamus. In our results, BTBR strain reported decreased noradrenaline, acetylcholine and GABA levels in prefrontal cortex, while hippocampal measurements showed reduced NGF and BDNF expression levels, together with GABA levels. Concerning hypothalamus, no differences were retrieved. As regarding amygdala, we found reduced dopamine levels, accompanied by increased dopamine metabolites in BTBR mice, together with decreased acetylcholine, NGF and GABA levels and enhanced glutamate content. Taken together, our data showed that the BTBR ASD model, beyond its face validity, is a useful tool to untangle neurotransmission alterations that could be underpinned to the heterogeneous ASD-like behaviours, highlighting the crucial role played by amygdala.

Evaluación de impacto del Festejo Nutriconsciente / Impact evaluation of the Nutriconscious Celebration

Introducción: en 2016 un Trabajo Final de Grado de la Licenciatura en Nutrición de la Universidad de Buenos Aires buscó desalentar el derroche de alimentos como parte del festejo de graduación de estudiantes. Esto dio lugar al Festejo Nutriconsciente (FNC) que utilizó redes sociales e intervenciones presenciales para cambiar este hábito. Objetivo: evaluar el impacto del Festejo Nutriconsciente. Materiales y método: encuesta online a una muestra no probabilística de 115 Licenciados en Nutrición graduados en la UBA durante el año 2017. Resultados y Conclusiones: el 81% de los encuestados festejó su graduación sin utilizar alimentos (95% refirió influencia del FNC); en el resto la decisión de arrojar alimentos fue de familia y amigos. FNC fue presentado en medios de difusión masiva y congresos nacionales e internacionales con muy buena repercusión. La marca se encuentra patentada. Se está trabajando con Carreras de Nutrición del resto del país para su reproducción y con la Comuna 2 del Gobierno de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires para extenderlo a otros niveles de la Educación Formal. Se recomienda llegar con la intervención a familias y amistades del graduado(AU).

Introduction: in 2016, a Final Degree Project coming from the Nutrition career of the University of Buenos Aires sought to discourage the waste of food as part of the students' graduation party. This led to the Nutriconscious Celebration (NC) that used social networks and face-to-face interventions to change this habit. Objectives: to evaluate the impact of the Nutriconscious Celebration. Materials and methods: online survey to a non-probabilistic sample of 115 Graduates in Nutrition graduated from the UBA during 2017. Results and Conclusions: 81% of respondents celebrated their graduation without using food (95% reported influence of the NC); in the rest the decision of throwing food away fell on family and friends. NC was presented in mass media and national and international congresses with very good repercussion. The brand is patented. Work is in progress together with careers in Nutrition of the rest of the country for its reproduction and with Commune 2 of the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires to extend it to other levels of Formal Education. It is meant with this intervention to reach the graduate's family and friends(AU).