Changes in cognition and dendritic complexity following intrathecal Methotrexate and Cytarabine treatment in a juvenile murine model.

Changes in cognition and dendritic complexity following intrathecal Methotrexate and Cytarabine treatment in a juvenile murine model. Behav Brain Res. 2017 Dec 08;: Authors: Alexander TC, Simecka CM, Kiffer F, Groves T, Anderson J, Carr H, Wang J, Carter G, Allen AR Abstract Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most prevalent childhood cancer and accounts for 26.8% of cancer diagnoses among children, worldwide-approximately 3,000 children each year. While advancements in treating ALL have led to a remission rate of more than 90%, many survivors experience adverse neurocognitive and/or neurobehavioral effects as a result of intrathecal chemotherapy. Methotrexate (MTX) is commonly administered with cytosine arabinoside (AraC, cytarabine) during intrathecal chemotherapy for ALL. To date, few studies exist that test the cognitive effects of intrathecal injections of MTX/AraC on juvenile populations. The purpose of our study was to investigate the combined effects of MTX/AraC on cognition and dendritic structure in the hippocampus in juvenile male mice. Twenty, 21-day-old male C57BL/6 mice were used in this study; 10 mice received intrathecal MTX/AraC treatment, and 10 were given intrathecal saline injections. Five weeks after injections, we tested the animals' hippocampus-dependent cognitive performance in the Morris water maze. After the first day of hidden-platform training, we observed that the mice that received MTX/AraC treatme...
Source: Behavioural Brain Research - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Behav Brain Res Source Type: research