engleski

Effects of pioglitazone on the cortical neurodegeneration and neuronal loss following the lateral fluid percussion brain injury in the rat

Even though traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its consequences are a great public health concern, effective therapeutic solutions have not yet been established. In our previous studies we have found that single dose of pioglitazone, a peroxisome proliferator receptor-γ agonist, exerted limited ameliorative effects in rats with brain trauma induced by lateral fluid percussion injury (LFPI) method. The aim of this study was to test the dose-related effects of the mentioned drug on the neurodegeneration and neuronal loss and in the rat parietal cortex following moderate LFPI. Rats were craniotomized over the left parietal cortex, midway between bregma and lambda, connected to the LFPI apparatus and subjected to brain trauma. Ten minutes after the injury induction animals were injected with different doses of pioglitazone and additional applications of this drug were given at various time points post-TBI. Rats were sacrificed at 72 h after LFPI and their brains were prepared for the histological analyses. Sham-operated, vehicle-injected animals were used as the control group. Cortical neurodegeneration was evaluated using the Fluoro Jade B staining. NeuN immunohistochemistry was used for the determination of the number of neuronal cells. Brain trauma caused significant cortical neurodegeneration and neuronal loss. Our preliminary results showed that pioglitazone treatment did not exert significant effects on the determined histological parameters in the used experimental conditions. This work has been supported by the University of Rijeka, Croatia, under the project number 13.06.1.1.09 to G.Ž.

neurodegeneration; parietal cortex; pioglitazone; rat; traumatic brain injury

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