Abstract

Recent studies have indicated the neuroprotecive effects of resveratrol, a natural compound with anti-oxidant/anti-inflammatory properties found mainly in red wine. The aim of this study was to investigate the delayed outcome of the administration of resveratrol to behavioral deficits caused by an experimental model of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

Seven-day-old (P7) rats were separated into 3 groups: A (control) sham-operated, B (HI) ligated and exposed to hypoxia for 1 h and C (R-HI) post-treated with resveratrol (90 mg/kg). Behavioral tests were performed from days P8–P65, during which the early reflexes (righting reflex, gait, negative geotaxis), motor activity and coordination (bridge traversing, rotarod) and learning/memory function (passive avoidance, Morris water-maze) were examined.

Significant difference among the experimental groups was observed in righting reflex test (p<0.05) and the R-HI group almost reached the performance of the control animals. In contrast, there was no statistically significant difference in gait and negative geotaxis tests, although in the latter, performance of control (3.5±0.5 sec) and R-HI (4.31±0.4 sec) group was better compared to HI (5.56±1.1 sec). Regarding rotarod, bridge traversing and passive avoidance tests the performance of control and R-HI groups was better compared to HI, although not significant. The most significant differences were observed in the water-maze test (p<0.05). At the last day, the performance of resveratrol (17.7±4.3 sec) and control (10.5±1.9 sec) groups exhibited significant improvement compared to HI (33.1±5.1 sec).

Neurological deficiencies present in adult animals with neonatal hypoxia-ischemia seem to be attenuated by post-treatment with resveratrol, which has already been shown in our previous study to moderate neuroprotection in the early phase of encephalopathy.