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@#Introduction: Astrocytes are responsible for many essential functions of neurons in CNS. It has been recognised that chronic stress affects the morphology of astrocyte. Natural antioxidant such as honey has been used as one of the therapeutic strategies to lessen the damaging effect of chronic stress on our body. Therefore, the aim of the study is to explore the effect of natural antioxidant, Tualang honey (TH) on the morphology of astrocytes following chronic stress exposure. Methods: Thirty-two male rats were randomly divided into the 4 groups: (i) control, (ii) stress, (iii) honey, (iv) stress plus honey groups.TH was administered via oral gavage at dose of 1.0 g/kg body weight pre and post experiment. Chronic stress was exposed to animals in group (ii) and (iv) for consecutive 21 days. Anti GFAP immunohistochemistry method was employed to label astrocytes in the medial prefrontal cortex. The number of GFAP+ astrocytes and several parameters related to astrocyte processes were measured. Results: The present study showed that chronic stress reduced the GFAP immunoreactive astrocyte number and percentage of GFAP immunoreactive material. Chronic stress also caused a reduction in astrocyte process ramification as indicated by a reduction in astrocyte total number of processes, average length of processes and maximum number of intersections. However, antioxidant treatment using TH could not reverse these stress-induced changes to the astrocytes. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that chronic stress decreases the number of GFAP immunoreactive astrocyte and cause shrinking of astrocyte processes in stress-sensitive brain region, but these changes cannot be reversed by antioxidant treatment.
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Deltamethrin is a widely used insecticide belonging to the class of pyrethroid. Although the neurotoxicity of pyrethroids including deltamethrin is well established, it is still unclear whether exposure to deltamethrin during neonatal period has any deleterious effect on the survival of the Purkinje cells in the cerebellum. In the study, we investigated the total number of Purkinje cells in experimental rats exposed to deltamethrin using a stereological method, the fractionator. Deltamethrin in a dose of 1 mg/kg/day (corresponds to 20% of LD50 ) was administered through oral gavage to male pups from 2nd to 5th postnatal day (PND). At PND 21 the animals were sacrificed and their cerebelli were removed. The cerebelli were systematically sampled using the fractionator method and stained with cresyl fast violet. The number of the Purkinje cells was counted for each cerebellum. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the total number of Purkinje cells in the deltamethrin-treated group as compared to the control animals. This suggests that deltamethrin exposure at the current dosage during the neonatal period do not have any significant effect on the survival of the Purkinje cells in the cerebellum.
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The School of Medical Sciences of University Science Malaysia is the pioneer university in Malaysia who introduced the curriculum based ob Problem Based Learning [PBL]. The basic education strategy practiced by School of Medical Sciences is based on student oriented, problem based, integrated, community oriented, elective and self learning [SPICES]. Knowledge of anatomy is the foundation of effective clinical practice so anatomy is presented with appropriate changes during all phases of MD curriculum. Anatomy department is furnished with more than sufficient resource materials but anatomy museum has a unique role to play in integrated based teaching curriculum. Anatomy museum has been arranged on the basis of different modules or systems having plastinated, prosected specimens, video cassettes, models, MRI films, radiographs, ultrasound reports and teaching microscope. For structured living anatomy sessions in the clinical professional skill programmes, a fully equipped clinical skill laboratory is playing a vital role in integrated teaching curriculum of University Science Malaysia