ABSTRACT
Background and Aim: In this study, we investigated the effect of immobilization stress during pregnancy on the spatial memory, anxiety-like behavior and brain BDNF level in F1 generation male NMRI mice
Materials and methods: Twenty female pregnant mice were randomly divided into stress and control groups. The stress group received stress using a restraint cylinder [6 cm ID, 20 cm L] 60 min/day from the 1st to the 15th day of pregnancy. The control group did not receive stress. The male F1 offspring was nursed by their mothers [n=10/group] until reaching weights between 20 and 25 g. Then they were tested for spatial memory using Barnes maze and anxiety-like behavior by the elevated plus-maze. Also, brain BDNF level was measured by means of an ELISA reader
Results: Barnes maze test results showed that the time and distance to reach the target hole were significantly [p<0.001] increased in the stress group. Also, the number of errors and anxiety-like behavior in the stress group were significantly [p<0.001] increased compared to those in the control group [p<0.001]. BDNF level in the brain was significantly [p<0.05] higher in the control group
Conclusion: The present study indicated that prenatal stress can lead to decreased level of BDNF in the brain of the offspring which may result in spatial memory disorder and anxiety-like behavior
ABSTRACT
Objective: Resveratrol, a phytoalexin, has a wide range of desirable biological actions. Despite a growing body of evidence indicating that resveratrol induces changes in neu-ronal function, little effort, if any, has been made to investigate the cellular effect of resveratrol treatment on intrinsic neuronal properties
Materials and Methods: This experimental study was performed to examine the acute effects of resveratrol [100 NM] on the intrinsic evoked responses of rat Cornu Ammonis [CA1] pyramidal neurons in brain slices, using whole cell patch clamp recording under current clamp conditions
Results: Findings showed that resveratrol treatment caused dramatic changes in evoked responses of pyramidal neurons. Its treatment induced a significant [P<0.05] increase in the after hyperpolarization amplitude of the first evoked action potential. Resveratrol-treated cells displayed a significantly broader action potential [AP] when compared with either control or vehicle-treated groups. In addition, the mean instantaneous firing frequency between the first two action potentials was significantly lower in resveratrol-treated neurons. It also caused a significant reduction in the time to maximum decay of AP. The rheobase current and the utilization time were both significantly greater following resveratrol treatment. Neurons exhibited a significantly depolarized voltage threshold when exposed to resveratrol
Conclusion: Results provide direct electrophysiological evidence for the inhibitory effects of resveratrol on pyramidal neurons, at least in part, by reducing the evoked neural activity