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Hyperbaric oxygen therapy reduces astrogliosis and helps to recovery brain damage in hydrocephalic young rats

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Abstract

Purpose

We investigated the possible beneficial effects that hyperbaric oxygen therapy could offer in different brain structures affected by ventriculomegaly in pup rats submitted to experimental hydrocephalus.

Methods

Seven-day-old Wistar rats were submitted to hydrocephalus by intracisternal injection of 10% kaolin into the cisterna magna. The animals were divided into four groups: control (n = 5); control with HBOT (3ATA/2 h/day) (n = 5); untreated hydrocephalic (n = 10); hydrocephalic treated with HBOT (3ATA/2 h/day) (n = 10). The treatment with HBOT was performed daily for 14 days post-induction of hydrocephalus. To evaluate the response to treatment, behavioral tests (open field, Morris water maze, and activity monitor) were performed. After 14 days, the animals were euthanized, and the brain was removed for histological (hematoxylin-eosin and solochrome-cyanine) and immunohistochemical (GFAP and Ki-67) studies.

Results

The hyperbaric treatment, although not causing changes in ventricular enlargement, resulted in a significant improvement in the behavioral performance (p = 0.0001), with greater agility and exploration of the environment, preservation of spatial memory, and greater learning capacity (p = 0.0001). Through the immunohistochemical study, the astrocytic activity (glial fibrillary acidic protein) in the corpus callosum (p = 0.0001) and in the germinative matrix (p = 0.0033) was significantly reduced as compared to that in the H group.

Conclusion

The results suggest that hyperbaric treatment bettered the behavioral performance and offered benefits to the structures affected by the ventricular increase helping to recover the brain damages. In this way, the HBOT it can be considered an adjuvant therapy for the treatment of hydrocephalus.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Sandra L. Balero Penharvel Martins for the help with the preparation of histological samples and slides and Antonio Renato Meirelles e Silva for his assistance with microscope photographs.

Funding

Financial support from Fundação de Apoio ao Ensino, Pesquisa e Assistência do HCFMRP-USP (FAEPA - 1060/2015), and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP - grant number 2013/04130-6 and 2016/11212-7). A scholarship was granted to Stephanya Covas da Silva by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, 41407405829) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery and Anatomy, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo – USP, Bandeirantes Av., 3900, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, 14049-090, Brazil

    Stephanya Covas da Silva, Omar Feres, Pâmella da Silva Beggiora, Hélio Rubens Machado, Ricardo Andrade Brandão & Luiza da Silva Lopes

  2. Department of Biomechanics, Medicine and Rehabilitation, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, 3900 Av. dos Bandeirantes, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, 14049-900, Brazil

    Rafael Menezes-Reis

  3. Department of Biomechanics, Medicine and Rehabilitation of the Locomotor System, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, 3900 Av. dos Bandeirantes, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, 14049-900, Brazil

    João Eduardo Araújo

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  1. Stephanya Covas da Silva
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  2. Omar Feres
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  3. Pâmella da Silva Beggiora
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  7. Ricardo Andrade Brandão
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  8. Luiza da Silva Lopes
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephanya Covas da Silva.

Ethics declarations

This study was designed according to the ethical guidelines published by the Brazilian College of Animal Experimentation (COBEA), protocol number 47/2015, and was approved by the Ethics Committee of Animal Experimentation of Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of Sao Paulo (CETEA/FMRP-USP). All efforts have been made to minimize suffering and the number of used animals.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the reported research.

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da Silva, S.C., Feres, O., da Silva Beggiora, P. et al. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy reduces astrogliosis and helps to recovery brain damage in hydrocephalic young rats. Childs Nerv Syst 34, 1125–1134 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-018-3803-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-018-3803-0

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