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The aim of our research work is to evaluate young mothers' (aged 15-16) health peculiarities and their children's state of health at birth. Two groups were formed according to Independent Student t-Test. First (basic) group included 65 young women, who had given birth at the age of 15-16. Second (control) group included 65 women, who had given birth at the age of 20-22. Some significant differences are found out: according to the number of women by onset of menarche (aged 10-12), sexual debut age, abnormal gestation course and birth frequency and degree of incidence for neonatal pathology. The undertaken study allowed drawing a conclusion that adolescence is a risk factor for women's abnormal gestation course and birth as well as new-born children's pathology emergence. This problem requires working out some means, aimed at effective contraceptive behavior forming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prenatal hypoxia-ischemia (HI) is one of the major causes of mortality and chronic neurological diseases in newborns that can evoke permanent effects such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), epilepsy and cerebral palsy. These damages are associated with a delay in neural development and death of neurons. Some of the cognitive deficits may be due to impairments in mesolimbic pathway. The ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) pathway is involved in reward, attention, motivation and learning. Nitric oxide (NO) is a gas with many physiological functions, such as vasodilatation and neurotransmission, and it is produced by the oxidation of L-arginine through NOS, using NADPH-diaphorase (NADPH-d) as the electron donor. The aim of our study was to investigate the effects of prenatal HI on NO production in NAc and VTA by NADPH-d technique, a specific histochemical marker for NOS in the brain, and the effects on the motor and habituation by the open field test (OFT). HI was induced by clamping the uterine arteries of pregnant rats (Wistar) for 45 minutes, anesthetized intraperitoneally with Avertin® (2,2,2-Tribromoethanol, 250-500 mg/kg), on the 18th day of gestation (HI group). In the other group of females the surgery was the same, but without clamping the arteries (SHAM group - SH). Three groups were examined in behavior tests: HI, SHAM and CTRL (nom-manipulated group). The motricity and habituation of the pups in P90 were analyzed by OFT on 2 consecutive days. For NADPH-d histochemistry technique, rats from both groups (HI and SH) were intracardially perfused with saline and paraformaldehyde, and the brain was coronally sectioned. The experimental procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (CEA/051/2009) and were conducted in accordance with the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. Data were compared with a one-way ANOVA, expressed by mean± SEM, and significance level was set at 5%. HI animals (n=16) did not show difference in motor behavior from first (37.1 ± 4.9) to second day of the test (37.8 ± 4.0), but a decreased activity was observed in SH (52.6 ± 6.0 on 1st day, 41.5 ± 6.8 on 2nd day, n=15) and CTRL (59.2 ± 5.8 on 1st day, 40.9 ± 5.4 on 2nd day, n=16) groups. There was no difference in motricity between groups. HI animals showed a decreased number of NADPH-d positive neurons (216±66.36 in NAc; 150±16.7 in VTA, n=3) compared to SHAM (358±119.9 in NAc; 274±48.42 in VTA, n=3) group (preliminary data). Our findings showed that HI impairs habituation but not the motor activity, and also affects NADPH-d-positive neurons distribution in NAc and VTA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic (HI) encephalopa-thy (HIE) is often related to long-term neurological impairment, and HI insult with hyperthermia worsens the neonatal prognosis more than with normothermia. Although neonatal rat model of HIE has been generally developed by unilateral carotid artery (CA) ligation followed by 8% oxygen exposure at an ambient temperature (Ta) of 37°C for 1-2 hrs, we produced brain insults after 8% oxygen exposure only for 15 min at hyperthermic Ta of 40°C successfully (Hosono, 2010). However, the effects depending on the duration of hyperthermic hypoxia are still unknown. The aim of this study was to clarify the effects of the duration on brain impairment aftergrowth using behavioral study and histology. Methods. Seven-day-old neonatal Wistar rats (n=30) were anesthetized by inspired isoflurane, and the left CA was surgically ligated (n=17, HIE-G). Sham-operated rats (n=13, S-G) without arterial ligation were also established. The pups were returned to their dams for 1 hr. All the rats in the HIE-G were divided into four groups, and placed in a chamber at Ta of 40°C with humidified 8.0% oxygen for 30 (n=4, HG30), 20 (n=4, HG20), 10 (n=4, HG10), and 5 min (n=5, HG5). Then all the pups were returned to the dams and raised. Rotarodtest(RT). A 21-day-old rat was placed on the rotating rod, and the interval until falling to the floor was measured for five consecutive days with a rotational frequency of 5, 5,7,9, and 11 rpm on the 1stto 5th days, respectively. Step-down passive avoidance test (SPAT). On the first day of measurement, a 60-day-old rat was placed on a round rubber platform with a diameter of 10 cm in 30 cm cube box with a metal grid floor. When the rat went down to the floor, we administrated a mild electrical shocktill it remained on the rubber. During the following 2nd to 6th days, the rat was placed on the rubber once a day, and the duration until it went down to the grid was recorded. After all measurements, rat brains were removed under deep isoflurane anesthesia. We prepared 4-µm brain slices, performed MAP-2 staining, and counted numbers of neurons per unit area. Results. RT revealed that the mean length of stay on the rod on the 5th day for HG30 (29 ± 13 sec, mean ± SE) was significantly (p<0.05, Kruskal-Wallis test) shorter than for HG20 (77 ± 38 sec), HG10 (161 ± 80 sec), and HG5 (198 ± 28 sec). SPAT revealed that staying times of HG30 (38 ± 28 sec) and HG20 (73 ± 52 sec) were significantly shorter than that of HG5 (194 ± 112 sec). The number of neurons in HIE-G was significantly lower than in SG. Discussion and Conclusion. RT and SPAT revealed reduced motor activity in HG and memory deterioration in HG30 and HG20, respectively. Histology revealed decrease of neuron numbers in HG. Hyperthermic hypoxia for more 10 min may cause brain impairment in the rat HIE model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]