Hasim, Hidani
(2018)
The effects of tualang honey on nociceptive responses in the thalamus of prenatally stressed male rats offspring.
Masters thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Abstract
Various mechanisms have been postulated to contribute to alteration of
nociceptive responses in offspring exposed to prenatal stress; however not a single
study has investigated the possible role of thalamus in the nociceptive modulation.
The first aim of this study was to investigate the effects of prenatal stress on
nociceptive behaviour, morphological changes, level of oxidative stress parameters
and NMDA receptors in the thalamus of prenatally stressed male rats offspring. The
second aim was to determine the effects of Tualang honey on these parameters.
Thirty-three Sprague Dawley pregnant rats were randomised into control, stress and
stress-treated with Tualang honey groups. Oral administration of Tualang honey
(1.2g/kg body weight/day) or distilled water was given to the corresponding pregnant
dams. Restraint stress was applied to the stress and stress-treated groups from day 11
of pregnancy until delivery. Maternal faeces were collected (on day 11 and 21) to
measure the level of corticosterone. After parturition, male rats offspring were
subjected for nociceptive behavioural testing (n=7 per group). In formalin test, their
nociceptive behavior score was recorded. The rats were sacrificed two hours post
formalin injection. After that, thalamus of the male rats offspring was removed to
determine the level of oxidative stress parameters and NMDA receptors while Nissl
staining was performed to detect the morphological changes in the thalamus. All data
were analysed by using SPSS, version 22. Nociceptive behaviour score was analysedby using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Bonferroni
correction and the remaining data were analysed by using one-way ANOVA. The
results of this study demonstrated a significant decrease in nociceptive behaviour
score (P<0.05), lower malondialdehyde level with higher catalase, superoxide
dismutase activities (P<0.05) and glutathione (P<0.001) in stress-treated with
Tualang honey group compared to stress group. Histological observations
demonstrated a significant (P<0.05) reduction of Nissl-positive neurons in the left
ventral posterolateral thalamic nuclei of the stress group compared to other groups.
From this study, it can be concluded that prenatal stress was associated with
alteration in nociceptive behavior, oxidative stress parameters, morphology and level
of NMDA receptors in the thalamus of adult rats offspring. In addition, Tualang
honey administration was associated with improvement in nociceptive behaviour,
oxidative stress parameters and morphology in the thalamus of male rats offspring.
However, Tualang honey administration did not significantly reduce the NMDA
receptors level. The present study provides new knowledge regarding possible
mechanisms of antioxidant property of Tualang honey in modulating the nociceptive
responses in the thalamus of prenatally stressed male rats offspring.
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