Pre-pubertal exposure of cytarabine-induced testicular atrophy, impaired spermatogenesis and germ cell DNA damage in SD rats.

CONTEXT: Cytarabine (Ara-C) is an effective chemotherapeutic drug for the treatment of acute leukaemias. It inhibits the DNA synthesis and repair, thereby causes cytotoxicity in the proliferating cells. OBJECTIVE: This study was aimed to investigate the effects of pre-pubertal exposure of Ara-C on testesticular development in juvenile SD rats and their function at puberty. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ara-C was injected at the doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg/day from postnatal day (PND) 29-42 (14 days) by intraperitoneal (i.p.) route. Half of the animals were sacrificed on PND 43 and remaining on PND 70. End points of the evaluation included gross pathological examination, histomorphometric analysis, sperm count and sperm head morphology, cell proliferation and DNA damage as well as apoptosis analysis. RESULTS: Ara-C treatment significantly decreased food and water intake, weight gain, testes and epididymis weight and increased histological alterations in the seminiferous tubule. Furthermore, Ara-C treatment significantly decreased the PCNA-positive cells and sperm count in a dose-dependent manner. Ara-C treatment also increased the DNA damage and apoptosis in testes and sperm as evident from the comet and TUNEL assays results. DISCUSSION: The present study results clearly indicated that Ara-C treatment impaired spermatogenesis and adversely affects the testicular development and its function in rats by reducing the germ cell proliferation and the inducing DNA damage and apoptosis.

Altered cortical GABAA receptor composition, physiology, and endocytosis in a mouse model of a human genetic absence epilepsy syndrome.

Patients with generalized epilepsy exhibit cerebral cortical disinhibition. Likewise, mutations in the inhibitory ligand-gated ion channels, GABAA receptors (GABAARs), cause generalized epilepsy syndromes in humans. Recently, we demonstrated that heterozygous knock-out (Hetα1KO) of the human epilepsy gene, the GABAAR α1 subunit, produced absence epilepsy in mice. Here, we determined the effects of Hetα1KO on the expression and physiology of GABAARs in the mouse cortex. We found that Hetα1KO caused modest reductions in the total and surface expression of the ß2 subunit but did not alter ß1 or ß3 subunit expression, results consistent with a small reduction of GABAARs. Cortices partially compensated for Hetα1KO by increasing the fraction of residual α1 subunit on the cell surface and by increasing total and surface expression of α3, but not α2, subunits. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments revealed that Hetα1KO increased the fraction of α1 subunits, and decreased the fraction of α3 subunits, that associated in hybrid α1α3ßγ receptors. Patch clamp electrophysiology studies showed that Hetα1KO layer VI cortical neurons exhibited reduced inhibitory postsynaptic current peak amplitudes, prolonged current rise and decay times, and altered responses to benzodiazepine agonists. Finally, application of inhibitors of dynamin-mediated endocytosis revealed that Hetα1KO reduced base-line GABAAR endocytosis, an effect that probably contributes to the observed changes in GABAAR expression. These findings demonstrate that Hetα1KO exerts two principle disinhibitory effects on cortical GABAAR-mediated inhibitory neurotransmission: 1) a modest reduction of GABAAR number and 2) a partial compensation with GABAAR isoforms that possess physiological properties different from those of the otherwise predominant α1ßγ GABAARs.

Cytarabine induced cerebellar neuronal damage in juvenile rat: correlating neurobehavioral performance with cellular and genetic alterations.

Cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C), a pyrimidine analogue induces cerebellar dysfunction and behavioral abnormalities. Although many in vitro experiments have been conducted in the past demonstrating the lethal potential of Ara-C to cerebellar neurons, there is a paucity of literature available regarding the effects of Ara-C on the cellular and genetic material of cerebellum and its subsequent influence on the neurobehavioral performance in vivo. Rats were treated with Ara-C at the dose levels 50, 100 and 200mg/kg/day for 5 and 14 days by intraperitoneal (i.p.) route. Endpoints of the evaluation included food and water intake, body and organ weight, behavioral parameters, histopathology, oxidative stress, DNA damage, apoptosis, expression of p53, caspase-3 and calbindin D-28K (calbindin) as well as histone acetylation and methylation. Ara-C treatment for 14 days significantly decreased the food and water intake, body weight gain and brain weight in rat as compared to the control. Alterations in various behavioral parameters were observed, indicating the impaired cerebellar function. Further, cellular abnormalities in the cerebellum such as Purkinje cell misalignment and granule cell cytotoxicity were observed. Positive correlation was observed between Ara-C induced disturbance in the motor performance and the Purkinje cell loss in rat cerebellum. Moreover, Ara-C treatment significantly increased the oxidative stress, DNA damage, TUNEL positive cells, p53 and caspase-3 positive cells in the rat cerebellum. Unlike short-term treatment, long-term Ara-C treatment significantly reduced calbindin expression in the cerebellum. Apart from this, 14 days Ara-C treatment led to significant alterations in the histone acetylation and methylation in the cerebellum, while in 5 days treatment no such alterations were observed. Present results indicated that Ara-C, by inducing oxidative stress mediated DNA damage, executes neuronal apoptosis which is accompanied by an increase in the p53 and caspase-3, but decrease in the calbindin expression.