008 — (BEZ0143) Alcohol alters the nonsynaptic epileptiform activity in male offspring of rats subjected to the alcoholization regimen

Abstract

(unpublished). It is known that the piriform cortex and amygdala are also activated during epileptic seizures. Because of TMT biological relevance when compared with toluene, coupled to the common circuitry activation in fear and seizures, TMT may represent an interesting alternative to study if the mechanisms involved in fear generation are capable of inhibiting seizures. In the present study, our goal and first step toward seizure inhibition protocol was to verify the appropriate concentration of TMT nanoemulsion that would produce behavioral effects in rats. Methods: Nine male Wistar rats were handled for 3 consecutive days. On the third day, animals received directly into the right nasal epithelium 10 μl of 0.9% saline (SAL), and on the fourth day, animals received 10 μl of vehicle (VEH) or TMT nanoemulsion — 38.7 nmol or 300 nmol. After the olfactory exposure, animals were recorded for 2 min for behavioral analyses — ethology assessment. All behaviors and their interactions were evaluated using ETHOMATIC software (chi-square analyses) [Ethics Committee Approval (172/2010)]. Results: There was an increase of interactions between exploratory behaviors as well as between grooming behaviors in VEH when compared with SAL (p b 0.05). The TMT 38.7 nmol promoted interactions between grooming behaviors that were not detected when SAL was applied, but exploratory items showed only slight differences. The TMT 300 nmol induced an expressive reduction in all interactions between behavioral items in relation to SAL. Discussion/conclusions: The results showed that the higher concentration of TMT was the most effective because there was a reduction of the behavioral activity when compared with VEH and TMT 38.7 nmol. This is in accordance with what is expected as part of fear reactions. On the other hand, VEH raised these activities, suggesting that the VEH is not innocuous to the animal but promotes a different response than the one induced by TMT. The next step is to increase the number of animals per group to confirm behavioral data and evaluate the higher TMT concentration in the WAR strain and amygdala rapid electrical kindling.