Doxorubicin Effects on Cognitive Impairment and the Microscopic View of Brain Structures in Rats

Abstract

The creation of a validated model of the “chemical brain” in laboratory animals is an urgent task, the solution of which will optimize the search for new drugs for the prevention and pharmacological correction of delayed effects of chemotherapy on the central nervous system. The aim of the work has been to assess the effect of doxorubicin after systemic course administration on behavioral reactions and the microscopic view of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus in rats.

Doxorubicin was administered intraperitoneally to male rats at doses of 5 and 6 mg/kg, once a week, for 28 days. The behavioral reactions of the animals were assessed, and pathomorphological studies of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus were carried out.

Doxorubicin at doses of 5 and 6 mg/kg causes inhibition of motor activity in the “Open Field” test, impairment of non-spatial and spatial memory in the “New Object Recognition” and “Y-Maze” tests, respectively. Doxorubicin at these doses increases the severity of vascular congestion and perivascular edema in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus.

Doxorubicin at doses of 5 and 6 mg/kg causes impairment of cognitive functions in rats in tests assessing non-spatial and spatial memory, as well as microcirculation disorders in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus of rats.