Resumen de Efecto del consumo crónico de etanol sobre el cerebro de rata, tratamiento con naltrexona = Effect of chronic ethanol consumption on rat brain, naltrexone treatment
María Inmaculada Almansa Frías
1. The animal model of chronic ethanol consumption induces oxidative stress in the rat brain (measured as changes in malondialdehyde and glutathione concetrations and glutathione peroxidase activity), as well as changes in other signaling pathways (CREB, pCREB and BDNF). 2. Chronic ethanol consumption causes a decrease in mitochondrial GSH while it increases cholesterol levels in the mitochondria, and these alterations could be the reason why the brain mitochondria of animals that have consumed ethanol are more susceptible to apoptotic stimuli. 3. Chronic ethanol consumption decreases neurogenesis in the rat hippocampus, affecting the survival of newly formed neurons. 4.Therapeutic adminstration of Naltrexone (starting after 4 weeks of chronic ethanol use and during the next 2 weeks along with alcohol) restores the biochemical parameters mentioned to control values, except the GSH / GSSG ratio in the rat hippocampus. This ability of Naltrexone could be related to the antioxidant properties of naltrexone. 5. Naltrexone treatment restores the number of doublecortine labeled cells in this model of chronic alcoholism, indicating that naltrexone may have protective effect on newly formed neurons.
