title: Dietary restriction protects against chronic-ethanol-induced changes in exploratory behavior in Wistar rats.
abstract: Chronic ethanol intake causes various types of neural damage and behavioral impairments, probably acting through oxidative stress and excitotoxicity, while dietary restriction is considered by some authors to protect the central nervous system from these kinds of damage. In the present study, a factorial experimental design was used to investigate the effects of chronic ethanol and dietary restriction treatments, associated or not, on Wistar rats' exploratory behavior, spatial memory aspects and cortical and hippocampal acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity. Dietary restriction lasted for the whole experiment, while ethanol treatment lasted for only 3 weeks. Despite the short ethanol treatment duration, for two behavior categories assessed, moving and rearing, an interaction was observed between the effects of chronic ethanol and dietary restriction. There were no significant differences in AChE activities among the groups. Cerebellar neural nitric oxide synthase (nNOs) activity was measured as a first step to assess oxidative stress. Dietary restriction significantly reduced NO formation. The present results indicate that dietary restriction might exert a protective effect against chronic-ethanol-induced changes in exploratory behavior. It is hypothesized that the mechanisms underlying this protection can involve prevention of oxidative stress.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas-Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lucas S N M
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: Felipe A S
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Gualberto
authors.forename: Silvia R C
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Paula A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Barros
authors.forename: Glaura C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Franco
authors.forename: Angela M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
mesh_terms: D000110:Acetylcholinesterase / Q000378:metabolism; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004435:Eating / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005508:Food Deprivation; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D052248:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type I / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol; D052248:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type I; D000110:Acetylcholinesterase