Inssaf Berkiks, Hajar Benmhammed, Abdelhalim Mesfioui, Amina El hasnaoui, Samira Mouden, Ali Ouichou and Aboubaker El hessni
Ibn Tofail University, Morocco
Regional Hospital, Morocco
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Neurochem Neuropharm
Systemic inflammation induced by neonatal infection may result as long-term hyperactivation of microglial cells and consequently an overproduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF-�±), nitric oxide (NO) and lipid peroxidation. Those inflammation mediators can trigger behavioral affective and/or cognitive disorders. In the present study, we assessed the efficiency of melatonin (a cytokine modulator and antioxidant agent) to counteract prefrontal microglia activation and depressivelike behaviors in adulthood rats, which were injected with LPS 9 days following their birth. The effect of melatonin (5 mg/kg) was compared to the effect of minocycline (50 mg/kg), a molecule knows as an anti-inflammatory and to inhibit microglia activation. Our findings show that LPS injected animals had high levels of TNF-�±, NO, lipid peroxidation production and microglial activation in the prefrontal cortex compared to control. The melatonin treatment induces a significant decrease of NO and lipid peroxidation levels in the prefrontal cortex without any significant effect on TNF-�± and microglia activation. The melatonin treatment induces a significant decrease in the anxiolytic and depressive behavior provoked by the LPS administration. Taken together, these results indicate that melatonin has a protective effect against the LPS induced behavior change through its strong NO scavenging and lipid peroxidation reduction but not through the anti-inflammatory effects.
Email: berkiksinssaf@gmail.com
