Pyrimidine Nucleoside-Mediate Prevention of Neurobehavioral Consequences Related to Cerebral Ischemia in Rat Models

Introduction: Cerebral ischemia is one of the leading causes of mortality and long-term disability, such as anxiety, motor disbalance and memory loss.Endogenous compounds such as pyrimidine nucleosides have demonstrated neuroprotective properties in several neurological disorders.The objective of this investigation was to study the effects of uridine and cytidine combination on cerebral ischemia-related anxiety, motor disbalance and memory loss in a preclinical model.Methods: Experiments were performed on inbred albino rats, which were remained intact or treated with either saline (control) or a combination of 5 mg/kg cytidine-5-mononucleic acid and 3 mg/kg uridine-phosphate salts.All animals were tested for elevated plus maze (EPM), passive avoidance (PAT) and rota-rod tests, which measure anxiety related behaviour and motor coordination, at baseline and on the 6th and 12th day after being subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO).Results: Animals treated with nucleotides reported an improvement of about 28% and 73% compared to the control rats six and twelve days after MCAO, respectively, in the passive avoidance test (p<0.05for both).Regarding elevated plus maze and rota-rod tests, statistically significant improvements were observed in all studied parameters in the nucleotide group compared to the control group.Conclusion: Administration of pyrimidine nucleotides combination under ischemic conditions prevents deterioration of learning and memory processes, anxiety and motor coordination disbalance of rats.Therefore, these molecules might represent a novel therapeutic approach to treat cerebral ischemia-related neurobehavioral consequences.