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Journal of Advanced Neuroscience Research, 2014, 1, 22-26

Behavioral Effect of Oleoylethanolamide on Perinatal Asphyxia

Mara Ins Herrera1,2, Juan Romero1, Fernando Rodrguez de Fonseca3, Eduardo Blanco4
and Francisco Capani1,5,6,*
1

Instituto de Investigaciones Cardiolgicas Prof. Dr. Alberto C. Taquini (ININCA), Facultad de Medicina,
UBA-CONICET. Marcelo T. de Alvear 2270, C1122AAJ, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
2

Centro de Investigaciones en Psicologa y Psicopedagoga (CIPP), Facultad de Psicologa, Universidad

Catlica Argentina
3

Laboratorio de Medicina Regenerativa, IBIMA-Hospital Carlos Haya, Pabelln de Gobierno, Mlaga, Spain

Departamento de Psicobiologa y Metodologa de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Facultad de Psicologa,

Universidad de Mlaga, Mlaga, Spain
5

Facultad de Psicologa, Universidad Catlica Argentina

Departamento de Biologa, Universidad Argentina John F. Kennedy

Abstract: Perinatal asphyxia (PA) is still a serious health problem associated with neuronal loss and morbidity. PA
pathophysiology implies oxidative stress, cell damage and over activation of inflammatory response. The absence of an
established treatment for PA encourages research on neuroprotective mechanisms. Oleoylethanolamide (OEA), a
cannabinoid agonist that exerts anti-inflammatory actions through PPAR
activation, could be a possible target for
neuroprotection. However, its role in perinatal hypoxic brain injury remains still unknown. In this study, we evaluated the
behavioral consequences of OEA treatment in 30 days-old asphyctic rats. Results indicated that rats subjected to OEA
administration showed an improvement in exploratory locomotion. This data suggests a possible neuroprotective role of
OEA in severe perinatal asphyxia modifications.

Keywords: Neuroprotection, Anti-inflammatory effect, Exploratory locomotion, Perinatal asphyxia.

1. INTRODUCTION
Perinatal asphyxia (PA) is a neonatal complication
associated with an impaired gas exchange [1]. The
most common reasons for this health problem are:
abruption of the placenta, compression of the umbilical
cord, abnormal uterine contractions or failure of the
neonate to begin breathing [2]. The incidence of severe
PA is estimated at 1/1000 live birth in developed
countries and 5-10/1000 live births in developing
countries [3]. Cerebral palsy, mental retardation, and
epilepsy are among the most common complications of
PA [4-7], which continues to be a determinant of
neonatal mortality and neurological morbidity [8, 9].
Although hypothermia and estradiol therapy have
shown favorable results [10, 11], there is not an
established treatment for PA.
Regarding the pathophysiology of PA, a decrease of
oxygen saturation implies a severe energetic crisis: a
shift to anaerobic metabolism takes place in order to
*

Address correspondence to this author at the Instituto de Investigaciones

Cardiolgicas Prof. Dr. Alberto C. Taquini (ININCA), UBA-CONICET,
Marcelo T. de Alvear 2270, C1122AAJ, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tel: 5411
4508 3880/8; Fax: +5411 4508 3880/8;
E-mails: franciscocapani@hotmail.com; fcapani@fmed.uba.ar

preserve the fundamental demands of energy.

However, anaerobic metabolism is inefficient for
providing enough energy for development of neuronal
networks and is associated to lactate accumulation and
acidosis. These functional consequences of the
primary insult are exacerbated by and during the reoxygenation period, which is necessary for survival but
implies free radicals accumulation, oxidative stress, cell
damage and over activation of defense mechanisms
such as inflammatory cascades [12].
OEA is present in human and rat brain in
considerable amounts [13-17]. This lipid amide is a
PPAR
(alpha-type peroxisome proliferators activated
receptor) agonist [13, 14, 18]. In experimental studies,
OEA attenuated inflammation in wild-type mice but had
no effect in mice deficient in PPAR
. This finding
suggests that PPAR
mediates the anti-inflammatory
action of OEA [13, 14]. In fact, the alpha-type receptor
is expressed in several immune cells [19, 20] and
regulates the expression of large sets of genes,
thereby modulating important metabolic processes [21],
such as inflammatory reactions. In addition to its antiinflammatory properties, OEA showed cytoprotective
effects both in vitro and in vivo models of substantia

2014 Cosmos Scholars Publishing House

Neuroprotection with OEA

nigra dopamine neuron degeneration [22]. Besides, a

substantial body of evidence has suggested that
cannabinoid agonists could exert its neuroprotective
effect modulating the inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmission or inducing hypothermia [23]. However,
the neuroprotective properties of OEA on PA remain
still unknown. Therefore, the aim of this experimental
work was to elucidate this issue by analyzing the behavioral effects of OEA administration in asphyctic rats.
In the present study, we used a rat model that
induces global severe PA [11, 24, 25]. The advantages
of this model are 2-fold: first, it mimics the asphyxia just
in the moment of delivery; second, it allows studying
both the short as well as the long-term effects, since it
is a non-invasive procedure [26, 27]. The most obvious
and serious short-term consequence of PA observed in
this model is mortality. At 37C, an asphyctic period
longer than 20 min was inevitably associated with
death probably induced by glutamate overactivation
and excessive free radicals release [26, 27]. Rats
subjected to 20 min of asphyxia at 37C showed
chronic defects in neurotransmitters such as decrease
in dopamine, aspartate and glutamate release monitored by microdialysis [28]. F-actin striatal cytoskeleton
changes were observed in post-synaptic densities of
asphyctic rats at postnatal day 30 P30 [29] and an
increase in the nitric oxide in neostriatum and
neocortex at short- and long term period was also
found [30, 31]. Alterations in cytoskeletal organization
were observed after 4 months of PA [11]. Recently, an
increase
in
the
ubiquitination
level
and
neurodegeneration after 6 months of PA in neostriatum
was also registered in our laboratory [25]. Finally,
behavioral deficit in exploration was observed after 3
months of PA [32]. The present study was focused on
earlier behavioral effects of PA and its possible
recovery through OEA treatment. To accomplish this
purpose, exploratory locomotion and anxiety levels
were measured in the Elevated Plus Maze test at postnatal day 30 (P30).
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1. Animals
Subjects consisted of 8 pregnant Sprague Dawley
rats obtained from the School of Veterinary Sciences
central vivarium at the Universidad de Buenos Aires.
The sample (N=24) consisted of male rat pups and
was divided into 4 groups: asphyctic rats undergoing to
vehicle treatment (PA20), asphyctic rats subjected to

Journal of Advanced Neuroscience Research, 2014, Vol. 1, No. 1

23

treatment with OEA (PA20 OEA10), control of

cesarean delivery undergoing to vehicle treatment
(C+), control of cesarean delivery subjected to
treatment with OEA (C+ OEA10).
2.2. Induction of Perinatal Asphyxia
PA was induced in newborn rat pups delivered by
cesarean operation. Gestational age was determined
by vaginal smear. After the surgical site was prepared
for surgery (shaved, cleaned, antiseptic applied), rats
within the last day of gestation were deeply
anesthetized with Nembutal (30 mg/ml) by i.p. injection
of 0.1 cc per 100 grams of body weight. Their entire
uteri containing the fetuses were taken out by
hysterectomy, and placed in a water bath at 37C for
20 min (severe asphyxia). The mother rat was euthanized. Cesarean-delivered control and asphyctic pups
were obtained from the same mother. Following PA,
the uterus horns were rapidly opened and the pups
were removed and stimulated to breathe on a heating
pad by cleaning off the delivery fluid and by tactile
stimulation with small pieces of medical wipes. In all of
the pups the umbilical cord was tied (previous antiseptic applied) and left to recover on a heating pad for
1 h. After that the pups were given to the surrogates
mothers, which had delivered few hours before the
experiment, mixing their normal litters with previously
marked asphyctic and control pups. Experimental and
control pups were weaned at 24 days, and transferred
to cages with free access to food and water [11, 24,
25]. All experiments were conducted according to the
principles of the Guide for the Care and Use of
Laboratory Animals (NIH Publications No. 80-23,
revised 1996), and approved by the Institutional Animal
Care and Use Committee at the University of Buenos
Aires (School of Medicine) No. 4081/04).
2.3. Oleoylethanolamide Administration
The respective treatment was performed within the
first hour of life by subcutaneous injection. Vehicle
used was 1:1:9 DMSO, Tween 80 y NaCl.
OEA dose administered was 10 mg/kg (OEA 10
mg/kg).
2.4. Elevated Plus Maze
This behavioral test is validated to evaluate anxiety
and exploration [33]. The maze consists of a black
central platform from which four black arms radiate in
the form of a cross. Two of the arms have a wall all
around its perimeter and are called closed arms. The
other two arms are open. The maze is elevated one

24

Journal of Advanced Neuroscience Research, 2014, Vol. 1, No. 1

meter from the floor. Rats are placed onto the central
platform facing an open arm. The test lasts 5 minutes
[32].
In the present study, the elevated plus maze test
was carried out at P30. Dependent variables were
measured: Time spent in open arms (index of anxiety)
and time spent in closed arms (index of exploratory
locomotion). Time was measured in seconds.

Herrera et al.

3.2. Anxiety
No significant differences between groups in terms
of time spent in open arms were found (F (3,20)=1.554;
p=0.232), as shown in Figure 2.

3. RESULTS
Results were expressed as means SEM. One-way
ANOVA followed by post-hoc comparisons (Fishers
test) were carried out. Homoscedasticity was
previously tested. A probability was considered to be
significant at 5% or less. Statistical analyses were
performed using the SPSS 18.0 for windows (SPSS
Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).
3.1. Exploratory Locomotion
When time spent in closed arms was analyzed, a
significant effect of group was found (F(3,20)=4.949;
p=0.01). Post hoc analyses revealed that time
exploration of PA rats was significantly lower than the
other groups: C+ Veh (p=0.001), C+ OEA10 (p=0.007)
and PA20 OEA10 (p=0.033). Figure 1 illustrates these
results.

Figure 2: Graph showing the performance of different group

of animals analyzed during Elevated plus Maze test (open
arms). No differences were observed between different
groups. C+ = Control cesarean; PA20 = 20 minutes of
Perinatal Asphyxia; C+ OEA10 = Control Cesarean & OEA
treatment (10 mg/kg); PA20 OEA10: 20 minutes of Perinatal
Asphyxia & OEA treatment (10 mg/kg).

4. DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSION

Figure 1: Graph showing the performance of different group

of animals during Elevated plus Maze test (close arms).
Perinatal asphyxia animals show a significant decrease in the
exploration locomotion activity. This activity was recovered
with OEA treatment. C+ = Control cesarean; PA20 = 20
minutes of Perinatal Asphyxia; C+ OEA10 = Control
Cesarean& OEA treatment (10 mg/kg); PA20 OEA10: 20
minutes of Perinatal Asphyxia& OEA treatment (10 mg/kg).
*** p
0.001, ** p
0.01, * p
0.05 compared with PA20 group.

The main finding of this study is that OEA treatment

(in a dose of 10 mg/kg) would be associated with an
improvement in exploratory locomotion in asphyctic
rats. Our behavioral results could be related to the
apparent anti-inflammatory action of OEA, which is
mediated by PPAR- [13, 14]. Consistent with this
data, a recent study of our laboratory has shown that
the effects of OEA could prevent neuroinflammation in
1
asphyctic rats . Substantial body of evidence suggests
that in neurodegenerative diseases, the inflammatory
process, which attempts a tissue recovery through
microglial action, could lose its regulation and become
a powerful factor of neuronal destruction [34]. In fact,
damage elicited by PA implies Poly (ADP- ribose)
polymerase 1 (PARP-1) overactivation, promoting expr-

Blanco, E., Herrera, I., Romero, J.I., Giraldez, L., Santos, G., Rivera,
P., Surez, J., Galeano, P., Rodrguez de Fonseca, F., Capani, F.
The effect of oleoylethanolamide administration in neuroinflamatory
response after post asphyctic brain injury.

Neuroprotection with OEA

ession of proinflammatory cytokines and microglial

migration toward the site of neuronal injury. But excessive PARP-1 activation could lead to energy crisis and
to apoptosis [12]. Therefore, the apparent anti-inflammatory actions of OEA would be neuroprotective for
perinatal hypoxic brain damage.
In addition, we observed behavioral modifications at
P30. This data is consistent with previous studies from
our laboratory using the same model of PA [11, 24, 25].
Asphyctic animals showed a decrease in exploration
without an alteration in anxiety at post-natal day 90
(P90) [32]. These behavioral modifications associated
with PA could be related to F-actin neostriatal
cytoskeleton changes observed in post-synaptic
densities of asphyctic rats at P30. These morphological
modifications described in our laboratory might be one
of the mechanisms involved in the neuronal loss
induced by PA, since we observed dramatic synaptic
changes with ubiquitination, degeneration and
inflammatory modifications 6 months after induction of
PA [25, 29]. Further studies will be carried out to
determine if OEA might have some protective effects
on synaptic structure and functions.
In conclusion, OEA treatment (10 mg/kg) in
asphyctic rats would be accompanied by an improvement in exploratory locomotion at P30. A more
thorough understanding of neuroprotective mechanisms of OEA and its behavioral effects on PA may
contribute to obtain effective treatments for this
neonatal complication.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research has been supported by a grant to
F.R.F. from La Marat-TV3 (Contract grant number:
TV3 386/C/2011).
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Received on 17-06-2014

Accepted on 17-07-2014

Published on 18-10-2014

2014 Herrera et al.; Licensee Cosmos Scholars Publishing House.

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