Efeitos comportamentais e neurotóxicos da inalação direta de crack em ratos

• Autor(a) principal: Lipaus, Ingryd Fortes Souza
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (riUfes)
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.ufes.br/handle/10/7903
• topic: Working memory; Radial maze; Crack-cocaine; Oxidative stress; Memória operacional; Labirinto radial; Estresse oxidativo; Fisiologia; Memória - Efeito das drogas; Labirintos (Ouvidos); Crack (Droga); Stress oxidativo; 612

Cocaine is an alkaloid psychostimulant found in the Erythroxylon Coca plant. Nowadays, one of its main consumption form is the alkaline base, crack-cocaine, which is highly toxic. It is a very potent drug, with euphoric effect occurring within seconds of its inhalation, and has become a serious public health problem in our country. Its consumption has been associated with uncontrolled decision making, with violence and psychiatric outbursts by consequences. This study examined the effects of the direct crack-cocaine inhalation on spatial working memory and oxidative stress parameters in rats. Thus, male Wistar rats previously trained in the 8- arm radial maze (8-RM) delayed procedure were randomically distributed to receive five daily sessions of 3 g of crack-cocaine (CK group) or inhaling simulation (sham group) and were evaluated in 1-h delayed task in the 8-RM 24 hours after the last inhalation. After further 24-h from the behavioral protocol the animals were euthanized and had their prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and striatum removed for the analysis of oxidative stress parameters through the evaluation of lipid peroxidation (TBA-RS), advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) and activity of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx). Animals from CK group presented increased number of errors in 1-h delayed tasks in 8-RM when compared to sham group (p < 0.01). These animals (CK group) also showed a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in lipid peroxidation in the hippocampus, increased (p < 0.05) in activity of SOD and increased (p < 0.001) levels of AOPP in the striatum compared to the sham group. These results showed that the direct crack-cocaine inhalation for five days impaired long-termed spatial working memory and changed parameters of oxidative stress in hippocampus and striatum, which are regions involved in the cerebral rewarding system.