Hamdallah Delaviz and Parastou Rad
Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Neurol Neurophysiol
Background: The WHO disclosed that 50.1% of consumptions worldwide belong to spirits, with adolescents having the highest
proportions of drinkers in Europe and the Americas, along with prevalent monthly heavy episodic drinking. Alcohol abuse has
substantial health consequences, especially in adolescence, considered to extend from 12 to 25 years [1]. Importantly, adolescent and
adult brains are different in their responses to alcohol consumption, particularly ethanol [2]. Indeed, the adolescent brain undergoes
maturation through structural and functional changes [3]. However, consumption of alcoholic drinks containing methanol increased
in the last years due to the production of counterfeit or local spirit drinks. Most therapies for alcoholism contain side effects while
some are even toxic and invasive. [4-7]
Material and methods: In this study, we investigated the effects of methanol administration on memory function and pathological
outcomes in adolescent rats, focusing on the hippocampus and explored the efficacy of Light-Emitting Diode (LED) therapy in this
model.
Results: Results of behavioral tests showed that LED therapy significantly improved memory impairment resulted from acute and
chronic methanol administration at 7 and 28 days, respectively. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrated hippocampus damage
and cell edema in methanol rats, compared to controls, as measured by increased apoptosis (caspase-3+ cells), whereas LED therapy
significantly decreased these outcomes. In contrast, LED therapy significantly increased the proliferation rate as measured by Ki-67.
On the other hand, the number of GFPA and BDNF+ cells in the hippocampus and the serum level of BDNF significantly decreased
in methanol group, compared to controls, however, LED therapy reverted these values to normal. Although chronic administration
of methanol (28 days) led to severe pathological situations, compared to acute (7 days), however, short- and long-term LED therapy
was efficient.
Conclusion: In conclusion, we showed that chronic methanol administration caused severe memory impairments which could
be improved by LED therapy. Results of our study favor the interaction between BDNF and astrocytes against methanol-induced
neurotoxicity. Finally, LED efficiently improved the memory function and recovered the pathological situation resulted from methanol
consumption, which makes it a potent candidate in alcoholism treatment. Further studies are needed to explore the mechanisms
responsible for secretion of BDNF by astrocytes and the improvement by LED phototherapy in the brain, especially in different areas
of the hippocampus.
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