Alcohol use can negatively impact financial, cognitive, and psychiatric aspects of human life. In the brain, alcohol can have many devastating effects. Alcohol is a well-known cytotoxic agent that can cause specific brain pathology in humans; however, the exact biological mechanisms are not well-elucidated. Animal models are invaluable tools to investigate potential novel treatments in a substance abuse model. Mice studies can be used to screen for negative outcomes prior to human trials. We hypothesize that the C1q tumor necrosis factor-related protein, CTRP3, overexpression in mice reduces neuroinflammation from ethanol consumption that has been coupled with a high fat diet when compared to control mice. The CTRP family of proteins are adipokines and CTRP3 specifically influences cell viability, metabolism, and peripheral inflammation levels. Antibody specific immunoblotting is used to probe protein expression changes in neuroinflammatory markers in mouse cerebellum brain tissue in an overexpression mouse model of CTRP3 when compared to high-fat ethanol exposed mice and baseline control mice. The two proteins examined are MAG and GFAP. Myelin associated glycoprotein, or MAG, is a protein expressed by oligodendrocytes that mediate axonal growth and myelin interactions with neurons in the brain. Oligodendrocytes are extremely sensitive to oxidative stress to which cognitive deficits in ethanol exposure is thought to be attributed. Glial fibrillary acidic protein, or GFAP, is a marker of astrocyte reactivity. Astrocytes are cells in the brain that are responsible for environmental stabilization and actively participate in neurotransmission. Currently, GFAP alterations in ethanol-exposed animals are dose and age dependent. We chose to use young adult mice where GFAP reactiveness is increased during chronic ethanol exposure. The proposed studies are essential in determining CTRP3’s relationship to detrimental neuroinflammatory effects of alcohol and high fat diet in mice. The data obtained from these studies will provide compelling evidence for future clinical trials to investigate CTRP3 as a therapeutic agent in people with a high fat diet that use alcohol chronically.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:asrf-1146 |
| Date | 05 April 2018 |
| Creators | Adkins, Caleb, Chandley, Michelle |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Appalachian Student Research Forum |
Page generated in 0.0023 seconds