Navegando por Autor "Pereira, Bruna Pinheiro"

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Ayahuasca, a psychedelic beverage, modulates neuroplasticity induced by ethanol in mice.
(2022) Almeida, Carolina Aparecida de Faria; Pereira Júnior, Antônio Alves; Rangel, Jéssica Gonçalves; Pereira, Bruna Pinheiro; Costa, Karla Cristinne Mancini; Bruno, Vitor; Silveira, Gabriela Oliveira; Ceron, Carla Speroni; Yonamine, Mauricio; Camarini, Rosana; Garcia, Raphael Caio Tamborelli; Marcourakis, Tania; Torres, Larissa Helena
Alcohol use disorder needs more effective treatments because relapse rates remain high. Psychedelics, such as ayahuasca, have been used to treat substance use disorders. Our study aimed to evaluate the effects of ayahuasca on ethanol-induced behavioral sensitization (EIBS). Swiss mice received 2.2 g/kg ethanol or saline IP injections every other day across nine days (D1, D3, D5, D7, and D9), and locomotor activity was evaluated 10 min after each injection. Then, animals were treated daily with ayahuasca (corresponding to 1.76 mg/kg of N,N- dimethyltryptamine, DMT) or water by oral gavage for eight consecutive days. On the seventh day, mice were evaluated in the elevated plus maze. Then, mice were challenged with a single dose of ethanol to measure their locomotor activity. Dopamine receptors, serotonin receptors, dynorphin, and prodynorphin levels were quanti- fied in the striatum and hippocampus by blot analysis. Repeated ethanol administration resulted in EIBS. However, those animals treated with ayahuasca had an attenuated EIBS. Moreover, ayahuasca reduced the anxiogenic response to ethanol withdrawal and prevented the ethanol-induced changes on 5-HT1a receptor and prodynorphin levels in the hippocampus and reduced ethanol effects in the dynorphin/prodynorphin ratio levels in the striatum. These results suggest a potential application of ayahuasca to modulate the neuroplastic changes induced by ethanol.
No effect of prior Dengue virus 1 infection in mouse dams on long-term behavioral profiles in offspring infected with Zika virus during gestation.
(2020) Costa, Karla Cristinne Mancini; Brancaglion, Gustavo Andrade; Almeida, Carolina Aparecida de Faria; Amorim, Gabriel Estevam Santos de; Veloso, Luciana Lopes; Lião, Lucas da Silva; Souza, Gabriel Augusto Pires de; Pereira, Bruna Pinheiro; Angelo, Marilene Lopes; Ruginsk, Silvia Graciela; Brandão, Wesley Nogueira; Marcourakis, Tania; Ceron, Carla Speroni; Coelho, Luiz Felipe Leomil; Torres, Larissa Helena
Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne Flavivirus structurally and antigenically related to Dengue virus (DENV). Zika virus has been associated with congenital anomalies and most ZIKV outbreaks have occurred in endemic areas of DENV. The present study investigated the effects of prior DENV serotype 1 (DENV1) immunity in immunocompetent female Swiss mice on gestational ZIKV infection in offspring. Physical/reflex development, locomotor activity, anxiety, visual acuity, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels were evaluated in offspring during infancy and adolescence. Anti-DENV1 and anti-ZIKV antibodies were detected in sera of the progenitors, whereas no ZIKV genomes were detected in the offspring brain. Pups from dams with only DENV1 immunity presented alterations of physical/reflex development. Pups from all infected dams exhibited time- related impairments in locomotor activity and anxiolytic-like behavior. Offspring from DENV/ZIKV-infected dams exhibited impairments in visual acuity during infancy but not during adolescence, which was consistent with morphometric analysis of the optic nerve. Pups from DENV1-, ZIKV-, and DENV/ZIKV-infected dams exhibited a decrease in BDNF levels during infancy and an increase during adolescence in distinct brain regions. In summary, we found no influence of prior DENV1 immunity on gestational ZIKV infection in offspring, with the exception of alterations of early visual parameters, and an increase in BDNF levels in the hippocampus during adolescence.
Pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate reduces alloxan-induced kidney damage by decreasing nox4, inducible nitric oxide synthase, and metalloproteinase-2.
(2020) Pereira, Bruna Pinheiro; Valle, Gabriel Tavares do; Salles, Bruno César Côrrea; Costa, Karla Cristinne Mancini; Angelo, Marilene Lopes; Torres, Larissa Helena Lobo; Novaes, Rômulo Dias; Ruginsk, Silvia Graciela; Tirapelli, Carlos Renato; Paula, Fernanda Borges de Araújo; Ceron, Carla Speroni
We examined the effect of the NFκB inhibitor pyrrolidine-1-carbodithioic acid (PDTC) on inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) activity, and oxidative and inflammatory kidney damage in alloxan-induced diabetes. Two weeks after diabetes induction (alloxan-130 mg/kg), control and diabetic rats received PDTC (100 mg/kg) or vehicle for 8 weeks. Body weight, glycemia, urea, and creatinine were measured. Kidney changes were measured in hematoxylin/eosin sections and ED1 by immunohistochemistry. Kidney thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), superoxide anion (O2−), and nitrate/nitrite (NOx) levels, and catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were analyzed. Also, kidney nox4 and iNOS expression, and NFkB nuclear translocation were measured by western blot, and MMP-2 by zymography. Glycemia and urea increased in alloxan rats, which were not modified by PDTC treatment. However, PDTC attenuated kidney structural alterations and macrophage infiltration in diabetic rats. While diabetes increased both TBARS and O2 − levels, PDTC treatment reduced TBARS in diabetic and O2 − in control kidneys. A decrease in NOx levels was found in diabetic kidneys, which was prevented by PDTC. Diabetes reduced catalase activity, and PDTC increased catalase and SOD activities in both control and diabetic kidneys. PDTC treatment reduced MMP-2 activity and iNOS and p65 NFκB nuclear expression found increased in diabetic kidneys. Our results show that the NFκB inhibitor PDTC reduces renal damage through reduction of Nox4, iNOS, macrophages, and MMP-2 in the alloxan-induced diabetic model. These findings suggest that PDTC inhibits alloxan kidney damage via antioxidative and anti-inflammatory mechanisms.
The role of IL‐10 in immune responses against Pseudomonas aeruginosa during acute lung infection.
(2020) Belo, Valéria Aparecida; Pereira, Jéssica Assis; Souza, Sara Franchin Duarte de; Tana, Fernanda de Lima; Pereira, Bruna Pinheiro; Lopes, Débora de Oliveira; Ceron, Carla Speroni; Novaes, Rômulo Dias; Corsetti, Patrícia Paiva; Almeida, Leonardo Augusto de
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is considered an opportunistic pathogen of great clinical importance. The clearance of this bac- terium occurs through recognition of the pathogen by innate immune system receptors, leading to a lung infammatory response. However, this response must be controlled via immunoregulatory pathways. In this study, we evaluate the role of endogenous murine IL-10 after acute infection with the virulent strain P. aeruginosa PA14. To assess the role of IL-10, intratracheal infection with the PA14 strain was performed in C57BL/6 or IL-10 KO mice. The PA14 strain was recovered in both types of animals, although IL-10 KO mice presented a higher number of viable bacteria in the lung when compared to the C57BL/6 group. Histopathological and stereological analyses showed that IL-10 KO mice had higher tissue damage and infammatory infltrate when compared to control animals. The activity of MMP-9 but not MMP-2, as well as IL-6 and TNF-α expression, were augmented in the lungs of infected animals and was much more evident in IL-10 KO animals when compared to the other analyzed groups. This work indicates that endogenous IL-10 control P. aeruginosa infection, the expression of pro-infammatory genes, MMP-9 activity and histopathological processes of the infectious process in question.
The role of nitric oxide in renovascular hypertension : from the pathophysiology to the treatment.
(2022) Pereira, Bruna Pinheiro; Vale, Gabriel Tavares do; Ceron, Carla Speroni
Renovascular hypertension is one of the most relevant causes of secondary hypertension, mostly caused by atherosclerotic renovascular stenosis or fbromuscular dysplasia. The increase in angiotensin II production, oxidative stress, and formation of peroxynitrite promotes the decrease in nitric oxide (NO) availability and the development of hypertension, renal and endothelial dysfunction, and cardiac and vascular remodeling. The NO produced by nitric oxide synthases (NOS) acts as a vasodilator; however, endothelial NOS uncoupling (eNOS) also contributes to NO reduced availability in renovascular hypertension. NO donors and NO-derived metabolites have been investigated in experimental renovascular hypertension and have shown promissory efects in attenuating blood pressure and organ damage in this condition. Therefore, understand- ing the role of decreased NO in the pathophysiology of renovascular hypertension promotes the study and development of NO donors and molecules that can be converted into NO (such as nitrate and nitrite), contributing for the treatment of this condition in the future.