Assessment of lipid peroxidation in irradiated cells.

Lipid peroxidation occurs under conditions where reactive oxygen species (ROS) readily react with vulnerable lipids on cell membranes. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are highly susceptible to lipid peroxidation because of their unstable double bonds. Because the cell membrane is particularly rich in PUFAs, it is often the site at which many lipid peroxidation chain reactions occur. Lipid peroxidation is considered the ultimate trigger of ferroptosis, an iron-dependent form of non-apoptotic cell death. Radiotherapy is a common cancer treatment that uses high-energy ionizing radiation to kill cancer cells, and radiation-induced cell death is partially attributed to lipid peroxidation-driven ferroptosis. Here, we describe methods to assess lipid peroxidation in irradiated cells. The same techniques can be applied to a variety of lipid peroxidation measurements under different treatment conditions.

Histological assessment of developmental cell death in Drosophila pupae.

This protocol describes the embedding and processing of Drosophila pupae in paraffin to monitor tissue changes during development. Although multiple methods are available to evaluate developmental changes in Drosophila embryos, imaging detailed changes during metamorphosis is challenging as the animal is enclosed in the cuticle, rendering it inaccessible to whole mount imaging. Here, we present a protocol that focuses on developmental clearance of the larval salivary glands in Drosophila pupae that can be extended to examine other tissues/stages for similar purposes. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Velentzas et al. (2018).

A simple assessment model to quantifying the dynamic hippocampal neurogenic process in the adult mammalian brain.

Adult hippocampal neurogenesis is a highly dynamic process in which new cells are born, but only some of which survive. Of late it has become clear that these surviving newborn neurons have functional roles, most notably in certain forms of memory. Conventional methods to look at adult neurogenesis are based on the quantification of the number of newly born neurons using a simple cell counting methodology. However, this type of approach fails to capture the dynamic aspects of the neurogenic process, where neural proliferation, death and differentiation take place continuously and simultaneously. In this paper, we propose a simple mathematical approach to better understand the adult neurogenic process in the hippocampus which in turn will allow for a better analysis of this process in disease states and following drug therapies.

Assessment of Frailty in Animal Models.

Animal models have contributed greatly to our understanding of the biology of aging and have been used to test new potential interventions to enhance survival. However, whether these interventions can modify frailty in animals is not yet clear, in part because until recently, frailty had not been considered in animal studies of aging. This review is focused on investigations that have attempted to address the issue of frailty, or aspects of frailty, in animal models, including invertebrate and vertebrate models. Some studies have used skeletal muscle weakness or sarcopenia as a surrogate for frailty in aging animals. Others have used genetically altered mice, in which components of human frailty such as inflammation are enhanced. This review also explores a novel approach to quantify frailty with a 'frailty index' based on deficit accumulation in aging animals. The concept of the frailty index is well established in the clinical literature, but recent work suggests that this approach can also be used to measure frailty in aging animals. The ability to quantify frailty in animals is a major step forward in the effort to understand the biology of frailty and to develop new clinical interventions.

Assessment of tumor response to radiation and vascular targeting therapy in mice using quantitative ultrasound spectroscopy.

PURPOSE: It is now recognized that the tumor vasculature is in part responsible for regulating tumor responses to radiation therapy. However, the extent to which radiation-based vascular damage contributes to tumor cell death remains unknown. In this work, quantitative ultrasound spectroscopy (QUS) methods were used to investigate the acute responses of tumors to radiation-based vascular treatments. METHODS: Tumor xenografts (MDA-MB-231) were treated with single radiation doses of 2 or 8 Gy alone, or in combination with pharmacological agents that modulate vascular radiosensitivity. The midband fit, the slope, and the 0-MHz intercept QUS parameters were obtained from a linear-regression fit to the averaged power spectrum of frequency-dependent ultrasound backscatter and were used to quantify acute tumor responses following treatment administration. Power spectrums were extracted from raw volumetric radio-frequency ultrasound data obtained before and 24 h following treatment administration. These parameters have previously been correlated to tumor cell death. Staining using in situ end labeling, carbonic anhydrase 9 and cluster of differentiation 31 of tumor sections were used to assess cell death, oxygenation, and vasculature distributions, respectively. RESULTS: Results indicate a significant midband fit QUS parameter increases of 3.2 ± 0.3 dBr and 5.4 ± 0.5 dBr for tumors treated with 2 and 8 Gy radiation combined with the antiangiogenic agent Sunitinib, respectively. In contrast, tumors treated with radiation alone demonstrated a significant midband fit increase of 4.4 ± 0.3 dBr at 8 Gy only. Preadministration of basic fibroblast growth factor, an endothelial radioprotector, acted to minimize tumor response following single large doses of radiation. Immunohistochemical analysis was in general agreement with QUS findings; an R(2) of 0.9 was observed when quantified cell death was correlated with changes in midband fit. CONCLUSIONS: Results from QUS analysis presented in this study confirm that acute tumor response is linked to a vascular effect following high doses of radiation therapy. Overall, this is in agreement with previous reports suggesting that acute tumor radiation response is regulated by a vascular-driven response. Data also suggest that Sunitinib may enhance tumor radiosensitivity through a vascular remodeling process, and that QUS may be sensitive to changes in tissue properties associated with vascular remodeling. Finally, the work also demonstrates the ability of QUS methods to monitor response to radiation-based vascular strategies.

Evaluación de la calidad de vida de pacientes bipolares chilenos: propiedades psicométricas y utilidad diagnóstica de la versión chilena del cuestionario Quality of Life Bipolar Disorder (QoL.BD-CL) / Assessment of a version adapted and translated into Spanish of the Quality of Life Bipolar Disorder Questionnaire

Background: The Quality of life Bipolar Disorder (QoL.BD) Questionnaire specifically measures quality of life in patients with bipolar disorder. Aim: To adapt a version translated into Spanish of the questionnaire and assess its validity in Chilean patients. Material and Methods: The QoL. BD was adapted to the Chilean population through the back-translation method and then administered to 32 adult patients with a bipolar disorder and 31 subjects without the disease, both groups with similar socioeconomic status. To confirm the diagnosis, the International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), Young (YMRS) and Hamilton (HAM-D) scales were applied. Quality of life was assessed using the SF-36v.2 survey. We determined internal consistency, reliability, convergent validity, the cut-off point, and the sensibility and specificity of the scale. Results: The Chilean version of the Questionnaire [QoL. BD-CL] had a high reliability (α = 0.95) and a high validity in reference to external criteria (correlation coefficients with SF-36 ranging from 0.453 and 0.819; p < 0.01). A cut-off point of 170, with sensitivity of 87.9% and specificity of 80% was determined. Conclusions: QoL.BD-CL has adequate psychometric properties, as well as an adequate sensitivity and specificity to distinguish between negative and positive perceptions of life quality in Chilean patients with bipolar disorders.

Cell-death assessment by fluorescent and nonfluorescent cytosolic and nuclear staining techniques.

Apoptosis, a genetically programmed cellular event leads to biochemical and morphological changes in cells. Alterations in DNA caused by several factors affect nucleus and ultimately the entire cell leading to compromised function of the organ and organism. DNA, a master regulator of the cellular events, is an important biomolecule with regards to cell growth, cell death, cell migration and cell differentiation. It is therefore imperative to develop the staining techniques that may lead to visualize the changes in nucleus where DNA is housed, to comprehend the cellular pathophysiology. Over the years a number of nuclear staining techniques such as propidium iodide, Hoechst-33342, 4', 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI), Acridine orange-Ethidium bromide staining, among others have been developed to assess the changes in DNA. Some nonnuclear staining techniques such as Annexin-V staining, which although does not stain DNA, but helps to identify the events that result from DNA alteration and leads to initiation of apoptotic cell death. In this review, we have briefly discussed some of the most commonly used fluorescent and nonfluorescent staining techniques that identify apoptotic changes in cell, DNA and the nucleus. These techniques help in differentiating several cellular and nuclear phenotypes that result from DNA damage and have been identified as specific to necrosis or early and late apoptosis as well as scores of other nuclear deformities occurring inside the cells.

Assessment of diurnal changes and confounding factors that affect circulating cell death biomarker levels: a short communication.

There is increasing use of circulating cell death biomarkers in patients and clinical trials. Knowledge of the potential noise and confounders in assays are vital for biomarker interpretation. The daily and diurnal variability and effect of menstruation and exercise on nucleosomal DNA (nDNA), total cytokeratin 18 (tK18) and apoptotic specific cytokeratin 18 (cK18) were assessed in 3 cohorts of healthy volunteers; 12 pre-menopausal women to establish the effect of menstruation, 12 men to perform exercise and 12 post-menopausal women. All 36 subjects were evaluated to establish daily and diurnal variability. Estimates of variability were derived in a linear mixed effects model and presented as the back transformed coefficient of variation (%CV). Minimal variation was seen in cK18 (11%CV) and tK18 (11%CV) but higher variability was seen in nDNA (85%CV). K18 results appeared stable throughout the day but a possible peak in nDNA was seen at 15:00. Menstruation had minimal effects but exercise led to immediate short-lived elevations in cell death biomarkers. There is no evidence of significant daily variability in K18 assays. We recommend subjects should not exercise for 6h before blood sampling.

Influence of stem-cell cycle time on accelerated re-population during radiotherapy in head and neck cancer.

OBJECTIVES: Tumour re-population during radiotherapy was identified as an important reason for treatment failure in head and neck cancers. The process of re-population is suggested to be caused by various mechanisms, one of the most plausible one being accelerated division of stem-cells (i.e. drastic shortening of cell cycle duration). However, the literature lacks quantitative data regarding the length of tumour stem-cell cycle time during irradiation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The presented work suggests that if accelerated stem-cell division is indeed a key mechanism behind tumour re-population, the stem-cell cycle time can drop below 10 h during radiotherapy. To illustrate the possible implications, the mechanism of accelerated division was implemented into a Monte Carlo model of tumour growth and response to radiotherapy. Tumour response to radiotherapy was simulated with different stem-cell cycle times (between 2 and 10 h) after the initiation of radiotherapy. RESULTS: It was found that very short stem-cell cycle times lead to tumour re-population during treatment, which cannot be overcome by radiation-induced cell kill. Increasing the number of radiation dose fractions per week might be effective, but only for longer cell cycle times. CONCLUSION: It is of crucial importance to quantitatively assess the mechanisms responsible for tumour re-population, given that conventional treatment regimens are not efficient in delivering lethal doses to advanced head and neck tumours.

Selective frontoinsular von Economo neuron and fork cell loss in early behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia.

Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) erodes complex social-emotional functions as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and frontoinsula (FI) degenerate, but the early vulnerable neuron within these regions has remained uncertain. Previously, we demonstrated selective loss of ACC von Economo neurons (VENs) in bvFTD. Unlike ACC, FI contains a second conspicuous layer 5 neuronal morphotype, the fork cell, which has not been previously examined. Here, we investigated the selectivity, disease-specificity, laterality, timing, and symptom relevance of frontoinsular VEN and fork cell loss in bvFTD. Blinded, unbiased, systematic sampling was used to quantify bilateral FI VENs, fork cells, and neighboring neurons in 7 neurologically unaffected controls (NC), 5 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and 9 patients with bvFTD, including 3 who died of comorbid motor neuron disease during very mild bvFTD. bvFTD showed selective FI VEN and fork cell loss compared with NC and AD, whereas in AD no significant VEN or fork cell loss was detected. Although VEN and fork cell losses in bvFTD were often asymmetric, no group-level hemispheric laterality effects were identified. Right-sided VEN and fork cell losses, however, correlated with each other and with anatomical, functional, and behavioral severity. This work identifies region-specific neuronal targets in early bvFTD.

The assessment of non-feminizing estrogens for use in neuroprotection.

Menopause is associated with a precipitous decline in circulating estrogens and a resulting loss of the neuroprotective actions of this steroid hormone. In view of the results of the Women's Health Initiative and the preceding knowledge that orally administered estrogens has a variety of adverse side effects, likely through actions on peripheral estrogen receptor alpha (ERα), we initiated a program of research to synthesis and assess a group of non-feminizing estrogens that lack ability to interact with ERs but retain much of the neuroprotective action of feminizing estrogens. This program of research is aimed at the identification of compounds which do not stimulate ERs but are potentially neuroprotective in vitro and in animal models of neuronal cell death. We discovered that the most effective non-feminizing estrogens were those with large bulky groups in the 2 and/or 4 carbon of the phenolic A ring of the steroid. These compounds were 8- to 114-fold more potent than 17 ß-estradiol (ßE2), but lacked ER binding capacity in vitro and feminizing effects in vivo. The success of this program of research suggests that strategies to optimize non-feminizing estrogens for use in postmenopausal women can be successful.

Cell-cycle times and the tumour control probability.

Mechanistic dynamic cell population models for the tumour control probability (TCP) to date have used a simplistic representation of the cell cycle: either an exponential cell-cycle time distribution (Zaider & Minerbo, 2000, Tumour control probability: a formulation applicable to any temporal protocol of dose delivery. Phys. Med. Biol., 45, 279-293) or a two-compartment model (Dawson & Hillen, 2006, Derivation of the tumour control probability (TCP) from a cell cycle model. Comput. Math. Methods Med., 7, 121-142; Hillen, de Vries, Gong & Yurtseven, 2009, From cell population models to tumour control probability: including cell cycle effects. Acta Oncol. (submitted)). Neither of these simplifications captures realistic cell-cycle time distributions, which are rather narrowly peaked around the mean. We investigate how including such distributions affects predictions of the TCP. At first, we revisit the so-called 'active-quiescent' model that splits the cell cycle into two compartments and explore how an assumption of compartmental independence influences the predicted TCP. Then, we formulate a deterministic age-structured model and a corresponding branching process. We find that under realistic cell-cycle time distributions, lower treatment intensities are sufficient to obtain the same TCP as in the aforementioned models with simplified cell cycles, as long as the treatment is constant in time. For fractionated treatment, the situation reverses such that under realistic cell-cycle time distributions, the model requires more intense treatment to obtain the same TCP.

Bilirubin selectively inhibits cytochrome c oxidase activity and induces apoptosis in immature cortical neurons: assessment of the protective effects of glycoursodeoxycholic acid.

High levels of unconjugated bilirubin (UCB) may initiate encephalopathy in neonatal life, mainly in pre-mature infants. The molecular mechanisms of this bilirubin-induced neurologic dysfunction (BIND) are not yet clarified and no neuroprotective strategy is currently worldwide accepted. Here, we show that UCB, at conditions mimicking those of hyperbilirubinemic newborns (50 microM UCB in the presence of 100 muM human serum albumin), rapidly (within 1 h) inhibited cytochrome c oxidase activity and ascorbate-driven oxygen consumption in 3 days in vitro rat cortical neurons. This was accompanied by a bioenergetic and oxidative crisis, and apoptotic cell death, as judged by the collapse of the inner-mitochondrial membrane potential, increased glycolytic activity, superoxide anion radical production, and ATP release, as well as disruption of glutathione redox status. Furthermore, the antioxidant compound glycoursodeoxycholic acid (GUDCA) fully abrogated UCB-induced cytochrome c oxidase inhibition and significantly prevented oxidative stress, metabolic alterations, and cell demise. These results suggest that the neurotoxicity associated with neonatal bilirubin-induced encephalopathy occur through a dysregulation of energy metabolism, and supports the notion that GUDCA may be useful in the treatment of BIND.

Temporal assessment of histone H3 phospho-acetylation and casein kinase 2 activation in dentate gyrus from ischemic rats.

Hippocampal dentate gyrus possesses an exceptional capacity of adaptation to ischemic insults. Recently, using a transient global ischemic model in the adult rat, we identified a neuroprotective signalling cascade in the dentate gyrus involving calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV (CaMKIV), cyclic AMP response element (CRE)-binding protein (CREB) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a major regulator of survival. We have shown that intracerebroventricular injections of anti-BDNF and anti-CREB are sufficient to cause substantial tissular damages and apoptotic deaths in late periods (48-72 h) after ischemia. Herein, we provide immunohistochemical and biochemical evidence that antibody-induced impairment of the protective CaMKIV/CREB/BDNF pathway induces an apparent duality of response in the dentate gyrus. The experimental protocol is performed as follows: (a) rats are anesthetized and vertebral arteries are occluded by electrocauterization; (b) on the following day, transient global ischemia is produced by occlusion of carotid arteries for 25 min; (c) finally, rats are infused with the pharmacologic agents into the left cerebral ventricle and then perfusion-fixed at different time points after ischemia for immunohistochemical and immunoblotting analyses. After infusion with anti-CaMKIV, phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) MKK3, MKK6 and p38 and phospho-acetylation of histone H3 occur at 6 h after ischemia without presence of any caspase-9 activation and cellular injuries. In contrast, infusion of anti-BDNF or anti-CREB surprisingly results in a remarkable stimulation of casein kinase 2 (CK2) and caspase-9 activities at 48-72 h post-insult. This is accompanied by the disappearance of phosphorylation of MKK(3/6) and p38 and phospho-acetylation of histone H3. These results suggest that: (1) activation of a MKK(3/6)/p38/H3 cascade at early periods post-ischemia may be capable of causing a short transient protective effect in the dentate gyrus; (2) CK2 might be implicated in inhibition of activity of molecules such as MKK(3/6), p38 and deacetylases at late periods post-insult, thereby promoting injuries and cell deaths in the dentate cell layer.

General-purpose filter design for neural prosthetic devices.

Brain-driven interfaces depend on estimation procedures to convert neural signals to inputs for prosthetic devices that can assist individuals with severe motor deficits. Previous estimation procedures were developed on an application-specific basis. Here we report a coherent estimation framework that unifies these procedures and motivates new applications of prosthetic devices driven by action potentials, local field potentials (LFPs), electrocorticography (ECoG), electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), or optical methods. The brain-driven interface is described as a probabilistic relationship between neural activity and components of a prosthetic device that may take on discrete or continuous values. A new estimation procedure is developed for action potentials, and a corresponding procedure is described for field potentials and optical measurements. We test our framework against dominant approaches in an arm reaching task using simulated traces of ensemble spiking activity from primary motor cortex (MI) and a wheelchair navigation task using simulated traces of EEG-band power. Adaptive filtering is incorporated to demonstrate performance under neuron death and discovery. Finally, we characterize performance under model misspecification using physiologically realistic history dependence in MI spiking. These simulated results predict that the unified framework outperforms previous approaches under various conditions, in the control of position and velocity, based on trajectory and endpoint mean squared errors.

Volumetric magnetic resonance imaging of dorsal root ganglia for the objective quantitative assessment of neuron death after peripheral nerve injury.

Prevention of neuron death after peripheral nerve injury is vital to regaining adequate cutaneous innervation density and quality of sensation, and while experimentally proven neuroprotective therapies exist, there lacks suitable clinical outcome measures for translational research. Axotomized dorsal root ganglia (DRG) histologically exhibit volume reduction in proportion to the amount of neuronal death within them. Hence, this study evaluated the validity of using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to quantify DRG volume as a proxy measure of cell death. A high-resolution 3D MRI sequence was developed for volumetric quantification of the L4 DRG in the rat sciatic nerve model. An unoperated "control" group (n=4), and a "nerve transection" group (n=6), 4 weeks after axotomy, were scanned. Accuracy and validity of the technique were evaluated by comparison with morphological quantification of DRG volume and stereological counts of surviving neurons (optical fractionator). The technique was precise (coefficient of variation=4.3%), highly repeatable (9% variability), and sensitive (mean 15.0% volume reduction in axotomized ganglia detected with statistical significance: p<0.01). MRI showed strong and highly significant correlation with morphological measures of DRG volume loss (r=0.90, p<0.001), which in turn correlated well with neuron loss (r=0.75, p<0.05). MRI similarly exhibited direct correlation with neuron loss (r=0.67, p<0.05) with consistent agreement. MRI volumetric quantification of DRG is therefore a valid in vivo measure of neuron loss. As a non-invasive, objective measure of neuronal death after nerve trauma this technique has potential as a diagnostic modality and a quantitative tool for clinical studies of neuroprotective agents.

Assessment of CMV, RSV and SYN1 promoters and the woodchuck post-transcriptional regulatory element in adenovirus vectors for transgene expression in cortical neuronal cultures.

In order to investigate protein function in rat primary cortical neuronal cultures, we modified an adenoviral vector expression system and assessed the strength and specificity of the cytomegalovirus (CMV), rous sarcoma virus (RSV), and rat and human synapsin 1 (SYN1) promoters to drive DsRed-X expression. We also incorporated the woodchuck post-transcriptional regulatory element (WPRE) and a CMV promoter-enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) reporter cassette. We observed that the RSV promoter activity was strong in neurons and moderate in astrocytes, while the CMV promoter activity was weak-to-moderate in neurons and very strong in astrocytes. The rat and human SYN1 promoters exhibited similar but weak activity in neurons, despite inclusion of the WPRE. We confirmed that the WPRE enhanced RSV promoter-mediated DsRed-X expression in a time-dependent fashion. Interestingly, we observed very weak SYN1-mediated DsRed-X expression in astrocytes and HEK293 cells suggesting incomplete neuronal-restrictive behavior for this promoter. Finally, using our adenoviral expression system, we demonstrated that RSV promoter-mediated Bcl-X(L) overexpression attenuated neuronal death caused by in vitro ischemia and oxidative stress.

Quantitative morphological assessment reveals neuronal and glial deficits in hippocampus after a brief subtoxic exposure to chlorpyrifos in neonatal rats.

Neurochemical and behavioral studies indicate that the widely used organophosphorus insecticide, chlorpyrifos (CPF), evokes neurobehavioral teratogenicity with a wide window of vulnerability, ranging from embryonic life through postnatal development. Few studies have detailed morphological damage that corresponds to the operational deficits. We administered 5 mg/kg of CPF sc daily on postnatal days (PN) 11-14, a regimen that is devoid of systemic toxicity, but that elicits long-term cognitive impairment and disruption of cholinergic, catecholaminergic, and serotonergic synaptic function. On PN15 and 20, we conducted quantitative morphologic examinations of neurons and glia in CA1, CA3, and dentate gyrus regions of the hippocampus. Although hippocampal morphology after CPF exposure was normal on gross observation, morphometric analysis revealed a significant overall reduction in the total number of neurons and glia. Superimposed on this basic effect, CPF elicited a delayed-onset increase in the neuron/glia ratio that emerged by PN20, connoting selective gliotoxicity. The alterations in cell numbers were accompanied by significant perikaryal swelling and by enhanced development of astrocytic processes. Layer thickness also showed delayed-onset effects of CPF, with thinning of the CA1 and CA3 layers and enlargement of the dentate gyrus. Our results indicate that there are subtle morphological changes in the juvenile rat brain after neonatal CPF exposure that are detectable only with quantitative analysis and that correlate with regional and cell-specific targets identified earlier in neurochemical studies. The simultaneous targeting of neurons and glia by CPF is likely to play an important role in its developmental neurotoxicant effects.

Risk assessment of false-positive quantitative real-time PCR results in food, due to detection of DNA originating from dead cells.

Real-time PCR technology is increasingly used for detection and quantification of pathogens in food samples. A main disadvantage of nucleic acid detection is the inability to distinguish between signals originating from viable cells and DNA released from dead cells. In order to gain knowledge concerning risks of false-positive results due to detection of DNA originating from dead cells, quantitative PCR (qPCR) was used to investigate the degradation kinetics of free DNA in four types of meat samples. Results showed that the fastest degradation rate was observed (1 log unit per 0.5 h) in chicken homogenate, whereas the slowest rate was observed in pork rinse (1 log unit per 120.5 h). Overall results indicated that degradation occurred faster in chicken samples than in pork samples and faster at higher temperatures. Based on these results, it was concluded that, especially in pork samples, there is a risk of false-positive PCR results. This was confirmed in a quantitative study on cell death and signal persistence over a period of 28 days, employing three different methods, i.e. viable counts, direct qPCR, and finally floatation, a recently developed discontinuous density centrifugation method, followed by qPCR. Results showed that direct qPCR resulted in an overestimation of up to 10 times of the amount of cells in the samples compared to viable counts, due to detection of DNA from dead cells. However, after using floatation prior to qPCR, results resembled the viable count data. This indicates that by using of floatation as a sample treatment step prior to qPCR, the risk of false-positive PCR results due to detection of dead cells, can be minimized.

Long-term effects of early-life malnutrition and status epilepticus: assessment by spatial navigation and CREB(Serine-133) phosphorylation.

Malnutrition and/or seizure in the developing brain cause hippocampal damages. However, underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The malnutrition group (MN) subjected with malnutrition alone was culled to 20-22 rats per dam on postnatal day 1 (P1). The rats subjected to lithium-pilocarpine (Li/PC)-induced status epilepticus at P21 were grouped as the SE group. The rats subjected to malnutrition and subsequent status epilepticus were grouped as the MS group. Visual-spatial memory test using the Morris water maze task was performed at P80. Following behavioral tests, the hippocampus was evaluated for histological lesions and phosphorylated cAMP-responsive, element-binding protein at serine-133 (pCREB(Ser-133)), an important transcription factor underlying learning and memory in the mammalian brain. Here, the MN group exhibited decreased body weight at P21. There was no significant difference in the seizure duration and mortality between the SE and MS groups. In adulthood (P80), both the SE and MS groups showed the spatial learning deficit, hippocampal cell loss and decreased pCREB(Ser133) level within hippocampal CA1 region. Although the MN group demonstrated a decreased level of pCREB(Ser133), no distinguishable changes in the cognitive deficit and hippocampal neuronal loss were detected. Collectively, the present results suggest that early-life malnutrition led to a reduced phosphorylation of CREB(Ser133) in hippocampal CA1 in the absence of the long-term spatial learning deficit. This decreased phosphorylation of CREB(Ser133) could suggest that cascades of signal transduction responsible for the phosphorylation of CREB(Ser133) might be disturbed by early-life malnutrition. In addition, malnutrition caused no discernible synergistic effects on Li/PC-induced status epilepticus.