Navegando por Autor "Mello, Luiz E."
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Artigo Seizures triggered by pentylenetetrazol in marmosets made chronically epileptic with pilocarpine show greater refractoriness to treatment(2016) Pontes, Josy Carolina C.; Lima, Thiago Z.; Queiroz, Claudio Marcos Teixeira de; Cinini, Simone M.; Blanco, Miriam M.; Mello, Luiz E.The efficiency of most of the new antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) on clinical trials still falls short the success reported in pre-clinical studies, possibly because the validity of the animal models is insufficient to fully represent the human pathology. To improve the translational value for testing AEDs, we propose the use of non-human primates. Here, we suggest that triggering limbic seizures with low doses of PTZ in pilocarpine-treated marmosets might provide a more effective basis for the development of AED. Marmosets with epileptic background were more susceptible to seizures induced by PTZ, which were at least 3 times longer and more severe (about 6 times greater frequency of generalized seizures) in comparison to naïve peers. Accordingly, PTZ-induced seizures were remarkably less attenuated by AEDs in epileptic than naïve marmosets. While phenobarbital (40 mg/kg) virtually abolished seizures regardless of the animal’s background, carbamazepine (120 mg/kg) and valproic acid (400 mg/kg) could not prevent PTZ-induced seizures in epileptic animals with the same efficiency as observed in naïve peers. VPA was less effective regarding the duration of individual seizures in epileptic animals, as assessed in ECoG (p = 0.05). Similarly following CBZ treatment, the behavioral manifestation of generalized seizures lasted longer in epileptic (p < 0.05), which were also more frequent than in the naïve group (p < 0.05). As expected, epileptic marmosets experiencing stronger seizures showed more NPY- and ΔFosB-immunostained neurons in a number of brain areas associated with the generation and spread of limbic seizures. Our results suggest that PTZ induced seizures over an already existing epileptic background constitutes a reliable and controllable mean for the screening of new AEDs.Artigo Social isolation disrupts hippocampal neurogenesis in young non-human primates(2014-03) Cinini, Simone M.; Barnabe, Gabriela F.; Galvão-Coelho, Nicole; Medeiros, Magda A. de; Perez-Mendes, Patrícia; Sousa, Maria Bernardete Cordeiro de; Covolan, Luciene; Mello, Luiz E.Social relationships are crucial for the development and maintenance of normal behavior in non-human primates. Animals that are raised in isolation develop abnormal patterns of behavior that persist even when they are later reunited with their parents. In rodents, social isolation is a stressful event and is associated with a decrease in hippocampal neurogenesis but considerably less is known about the effects of social isolation in non-human primates during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. To investigate how social isolation affects young marmosets, these were isolated from other members of the colony for 1 or 3 weeks and evaluated for alterations in their behavior and hippocampal cell proliferation. We found that anxiety-related behaviors like scent-marking and locomotor activity increased after social isolation when compared to baseline levels. In agreement, grooming-an indicative of attenuation of tension-was reduced among isolated marmosets. These results were consistent with increased cortisol levels after 1 and 3 weeks of isolation. After social isolation (1 or 3 weeks), reduced proliferation of neural cells in the subgranular zone of dentate granule cell layer was identified and a smaller proportion of BrdU-positive cells underwent neuronal fate (doublecortin labeling). Our data is consistent with the notion that social deprivation during the transition from adolescence to adulthood leads to stress and produces anxiety-like behaviors that in turn might affect neurogenesis and contribute to the deleterious consequences of prolonged stressful conditions.Artigo The GCN2 inhibitor IMPACT contributes to diet-induced obesity and body temperature control(2019-06-05) Pereira, Catia M.; Filev, Renato; Dubiela, Francisco P.; Brandão, Bruna B.; Queiroz, Claudio Marcos Teixeira de; Ludwig, Raissa G.; Hipolide, Debora; Longo, Beatriz M.; Mello, Luiz E.; Mori, Marcelo A.; Castilho, Beatriz A.IMPACT, a highly conserved protein, is an inhibitor of the eIF2α kinase GCN2. In mammals, it is preferentially expressed in neurons. Knock-down of IMPACT expression in neuronal cells increases basal GCN2 activation and eIF2α phosphorylation and decreases translation initiation. In the mouse brain, IMPACT is particularly abundant in the hypothalamus. Here we describe that the lack of IMPACT in mice affects hypothalamic functions. Impact-/- mice (Imp-KO) are viable and have no apparent major phenotypic defect. The hypothalamus in these animals shows increased levels of eIF2α phosphorylation, as expected from the described role of IMPACT in inhibiting GCN2 and from its abundance in this brain region. When fed a normal chow, animals lacking IMPACT weight slightly less than wild-type mice. When fed a high-fat diet, Imp-KO animals gain substantially less weight due to lower food intake when compared to wild-type mice. STAT3 signaling was depressed in Imp-KO animals even though leptin levels were identical to the wild-type mice. This finding supports the observation that Imp-KO mice have defective thermoregulation upon fasting. This phenotype was partially dependent on GCN2, whereas the lean phenotype was independent of GCN2. Taken together, our results indicate that IMPACT contributes to GCN2-dependent and -independent mechanisms involved in the regulation of autonomic functions in response to energy availability.