ADÖLESAN SIÇAN BEYNİNDE ANTİOKSİDAN ENZİM AKTİVİTELERİ VE LİPİD PEROKSİDASYON DÜZEYLERİ

Abstract

It is known that adolescence is a period in which symptomos mood disorders such as anxiety and depression or psychoses such as schizoprenia or behavioral abnormalities such as drug abuse mostly emerge in the individual. Adolescent brain differ from pre and post adolescence in regard to neurotransmitter systems such as the dopaminergic system, as well as in organization and function. In adolescence, dopamine metabolism increases in prefrontal corteks and hippocampus, while it decreases in striatum. Increased metabolism of dopamine may evoke an oxidative stress derived from increased production of reactive oxygen species. The present study was designed to determine the superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase enzyme activities and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances levels, an indicator of lipid peroxidation, in prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and striatum of 21 days old (pre-adolescents), 38 day old (adolescent) and 6 months old (post-adolescents) rats. We demonstrated that superoxide dismutase activity and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances levels increased in, but glutathione peroxidase activity decreased in prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of adolescent rats compared with other ages. In striatum, superoxide dismutase activity and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances levels decreased in adolescents compared with pre and post-adolescents. These results suggest that prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of adolescent rats may be more defenseless to oxidative stress, compared to other ages.