The Combined Psychoactive Effects of Caffeine, Nicotine and MDMA on the Prefrontal Cortex of Juvenile Male Wistar Rats

Abstract

The juvenile is vulnerable to psychoactive agents and environmental influences. Caffeine, nicotine, and 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) could influence the developing brain with potential consequences on mental attributes including memory, cognition, behaviour, and learning. This research studied the structural and functional changes attributable to the combined use of caffeine, nicotine and MDMA on the prefrontal cortex. Thirty-two juvenile male Wistar rats were grouped into four (n=8) and administered water-dissolved caffeine, nicotine and MDMA by oral gavages. An untreated group served as control. The second group received caffeine (100mg/kg bw) and nicotine (50mg/kg bw), the third group received caffeine (100mg/kg bw) and MDMA (10mg/kg bw) and the last group received nicotine (50mg/kg bw) and MDMA (10mg/kg bw). Treatments lasted thirty days, after which animals were sacrificed. The prefrontal cortices were fixed in formal saline, processed, and demonstrated using eosin and haematoxylin (H&E), Cresyl fast violet, and Luxol fast blue histological methods as well as glial-acidic fibrillary protein (GFAP) immunohistochemistry. Representative photomicrographs were obtained and analysed. Combined ingestion of caffeine, nicotine and MDMA affected the brain causing neuronal morphological aberrations, aberrations in Nissl expression, and astrocyte reactions especially with the combination of caffeine + nicotine as well as caffeine + MDMA with mild aberrations in myelin integrity. Effects also included significant elevations in GABA and serotonin activities with the combination of nicotine and MDMA (p< 0.05). Results showed that the combined use of psychoactive agents could elicit peculiar effects