Pre- and post-natal melatonin administration partially regulates brain oxidative stress but does not improve cognitive or histological alterations in the Ts65Dn mouse model of Down syndrome.

Melatonin administered during adulthood induces beneficial effects on cognition and neuroprotection in the Ts65Dn (TS) mouse model of Down syndrome. Here, we investigated the effects of pre- and post-natal melatonin treatment on behavioral and cognitive abnormalities and on several neuromorphological alterations (hypocellularity, neurogenesis impairment and increased oxidative stress) that appear during the early developmental stages in TS mice. Pregnant TS females were orally treated with melatonin or vehicle from the time of conception until the weaning of the offspring, and the pups continued to receive the treatment from weaning until the age of 5 months. Melatonin administered during the pre- and post-natal periods did not improve the cognitive impairment of TS mice as measured by the Morris Water maze or fear conditioning tests. Histological alterations, such as decreased proliferation (Ki67+ cells) and hippocampal hypocellularity (DAPI+ cells), which are typical in TS mice, were not prevented by melatonin. However, melatonin partially regulated brain oxidative stress by modulating the activity of the primary antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase in the cortex and catalase in the cortex and hippocampus) and slightly decreasing the levels of lipid peroxidation in the hippocampus of TS mice. These results show the inability of melatonin to prevent cognitive impairment in TS mice when it is administered at pre- and post-natal stages. Additionally, our findings suggest that to induce pro-cognitive effects in TS mice during the early stages of development, in addition to attenuating oxidative stress, therapies should aim to improve other altered processes, such as hippocampal neurogenesis and/or hypocellularity.

Uso del test Barcelona para la valoración cognitiva de los pacientes con esquizofrenia: Utilidad de una puntuación total / No disponible

Introducción En los últimos años se han desarrollado diferentes baterías neuropsicológicas que valoran el deterioro cognitivo en esquizofrenia, y que ofrecen una puntuación para cada área que evalúan, así como una puntuación total. El presente artículo parte de un estudio anterior en el que se utilizó una versión reducida del Test Barcelona, y valora la utilidad de usar una puntuación total como medida del rendimiento global de los pacientes. Asi mismo, se comparó el rendimiento cognitivo de la muestra con baremos normalizados. Metodología La muestra fue de 235 pacientes. La utilidad de obtener una puntuación total se analizó mediante un análisis de componentes principales. Se valoró la relación de la puntuación total con variables sociodemográficas y clínicas (..) (AU)

Introduction In last years, different neuropsychological batteries have been developed to assess cognitive performance in schizophrenia. These batteries have a total score and an individual score for each cognitive domain. The present report takes into account a previous study in which was used a reduced version of Barcelona Test, and (..) (AU)