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Oxytocin Exhibits Neuroprotective Effects on Hippocampal Cultures under Severe Oxygen-Glucose Deprivation Conditions.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


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Authors

Ionescu, Mara Ioana  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9766-1558
Grigoras, Ioana-Florentina  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5430-7919
Ionescu, Rosana-Bristena 
Chitimus, Diana Maria  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3241-2782
Haret, Robert Mihai  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1039-6005

Abstract

Perinatal asphyxia (PA) and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy can result in severe, long-lasting neurological deficits. In vitro models, such as oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD), are used experimentally to investigate neuronal response to metabolic stress. However, multiple variables can affect the severity level of OGD/PA and may confound any measured treatment effect. Oxytocin (OXT) has emerged as a potential neuroprotective agent against the deleterious effects of PA. Previous studies have demonstrated OXT's potential to enhance neuronal survival in immature hippocampal cultures exposed to OGD, possibly by modulating gamma-aminobutyric acid-A receptor activity. Moreover, OXT's precise impact on developing hippocampal neurons under different severities of OGD/PA remains uncertain. In this study, we investigated the effects of OXT (0.1 µM and 1 µM) on 7-day-old primary rat hippocampal cultures subjected to 2 h OGD/sham normoxic conditions. Cell culture viability was determined using the resazurin assay. Our results indicate that the efficacy of 1 µM OXT treatment varied according to the severity of the OGD-induced lesion, exhibiting a protective effect (p = 0.022) only when cellular viability dropped below 49.41% in non-treated OGD cultures compared to normoxic ones. Furthermore, administration of 0.1 µM OXT did not yield significant effects, irrespective of lesion severity (p > 0.05). These findings suggest that 1 µM OXT treatment during OGD confers neuroprotection exclusively in severe lesions in hippocampal neurons after 7 days in vitro. Further research is warranted to elucidate the mechanisms involved in OXT-mediated neuroprotection.

Description

Peer reviewed: True


Publication status: Published


Funder: Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania


Funder: Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Klinische Forschung (IZKF) Jena


Funder: Foundation “Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung” within the Else Kröner Research School for Physicians “AntiAge”

Keywords

GABA, hippocampal cell cultures, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, oxygen–glucose deprivation, oxytocin, perinatal asphyxia

Journal Title

Curr Issues Mol Biol

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1467-3037
1467-3045

Volume Title

46

Publisher

MDPI AG