Abstract
Aging is a biologic process characterized by progressive damage of structures and functions of organic systems. In gastrointestinal tract, it can involve enteric nervous system, which plays an important role in digestion and absorption of nutrients, causing hastening of intestinal transit thus reducing its absorptive function. Caloric restriction has been used in several studies with the intention of delaying deleterious effects of aging. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of caloric restriction on myenteric neurons of ileum by aging in rats. 30 Wistar rats were grouped as follows: GI (animals aged 6 months fed with normal diet), GII (animals aged 18 months fed with normal diet) and GIII (animals aged 18 months subject to 31% of caloric restriction). The rats of the GI group were euthanized at 6 months of age and after experimental period of 12 months animals of the group GII and GIII were euthanized, the ileum of all groups were collected, measured and processed by NADPH-dp and Acetylcholinesterase. Quantitative analysis of neurons revealed that aging promotes the increasing of myenteric neurons NADPH-dp and reduces Acetylcholinesterase neuronal population. However, in the cellular profile area, were not observed significant differences between the groups. The caloric restriction has been efficient and can be used preventively because it minimizes quantitative changes associated with aging on ileum myenteric plexuses.
Highlights
The increasing of elderly population is considered a global phenomenon (Kapteyn 2010)
Owing to the increase in the elderly population and the incessant search for alternatives that reduce the deleterious effects of aging, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of caloric restriction (CR) in the plasticity of myenteric neurons NADPH-diaforase positive (NADPH-dp) and Acetilcolinesterase positive neurons (AchE+) in the ileum of rats under aging process
The weight of the retroperitoneal and periepididimal fat together was higher in animals fed the diet with 3900 Kcal/EB (12.3±1.2 g) compared to animals fed diet 2700 kcal/EB (9.1±1.5 g). This difference was not significant (p> 0.05). It was observed in all groups studied (GI, GII e GIII), that the myenteric neurons AchE+ e NADPHdp (Figure 1) was predominantly grouped in ganglia interconnected by bundles of nerve fibers
Summary
The increasing of elderly population is considered a global phenomenon (Kapteyn 2010). Aging is characterized as a biological process with progressive functional and structural damage of many organic systems (Riggs et al 2004). This process increases the probability of degenerative diseases and is hastened by an interaction between genetic factors (Kenyon 2005). All these factors together especially contribute to increase in the free radical production (Letiembre et al 2007), causing functional and structural alterations in organs (Lukiw 2007). During the entire process of aging can be observed from changes lighter in the gastrointestinal tract, such as constipation, even more serious conditions such as intestinal obstruction (Shamburek and Farrar 1990)
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