masterThesis
Avaliação de células serotoninérgicas nas regiões lateral e ventral do núcleo dorsal da rafe em ratas após uso contínuo e retirada de álcool
Fecha
2019-06-05Registro en:
TORRES, Felipe de Lima. Avaliação de células serotoninérgicas nas regiões lateral e ventral do núcleo dorsal da rafe em ratas após uso contínuo e retirada de álcool. 2019. 70f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Ciências Biológicas) - Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, 2019.
Autor
Torres, Felipe de Lima
Resumen
The abusive consumption of ethyl alcohol has become one of the major problems of public
health worldwide, mainly due to the high prevalence of cormobidades, such as depression and
anxiety, in individuals with a dependence history. Alcohol influences the activity of the
serotonergic neurons in the dorsal nucleus of the raphe leading to neuroadaptive changes
involved in all stages of dependence, from the beginning of the consumption to the
withdrawal and relapse. Considering the higher susceptibility of female gender to the effects
of alcohol, the present study aimed to investigate if the continuous consumption of alcohol,
followed by its short or long-term withdrawal can cause changes in the density of
immunoreactive cells to serotonin (5-HT) in the lateral and ventral regions of the rat dorsal
raphe nucleus. The animals were divided into four groups according to pre-established
consumption and withdrawal protocols. Excepting control group, which received only water
as a source of liquid diet, all animals were submitted to alcohol treatment in increasing
concentrations (2%, 4% and 6%). All animals were submitted to transcardiac perfusion for
brain removal and subsequent immunohistochemical analysis. The imonohistochemistry
analysis for 5-HT was performed in the lateral (DRL) and ventral (DRV) regions of the dorsal
nucleus of rafe using the Atlas of the Estereotactic Atlas of Rat, optical microscope coupled to
the digital camera and Neurolucida software. The analyzed areas were subdivided into caudal,
medial and rostral portions. In order to compare the distribution of number and cell density
between treatments, the data set was submitted to the analysis of variance (ANOVA
unifatorial) followed by the Tukey test when necessary (values of p≤0.05 were considered
statistically significant). We considered the isolated analysis of each subdivision, as well as
the analysis of all the portions together. In the DRL area, the cell density was increased in the
long-term withdrawal group compared to the control only when all subdivisions were
considered. A significant increase in cell density in the medial portion was observed in DRV
for all groups when compared to control. In the same area, an increase in density was also
observed in the short-term group in the caudal portion when compared to the control. An
increase in cell density was also observed in in DRV area considering all portions for all
experimental groups compared to the control. No significant changes were observed for the
cell number marked for 5-HT in the areas of interest (DRL and DRV). The results suggest a
possible involvement of the DRL and DRV serotonergic cell groups in alcohol-related
disorders in view of the functional aspects of these areas.