Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of scopolamine on different brain segments using DSC.
Introduction: In this work, probes from different brain segments of rats with drug-induced dementia were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and their thermodynamic properties were determined.
Methods: Male Wistar rats were injected with scopolamine for 14 consecutive days in order to induce drug model of dementia. After being decapitated, their brains were divided into the following segments: telencephalon, mesencephalon and cerebellum. Afterwards, the brain supernatants of the latter 3 segments were examined by DSC and compared with the controls.
Results: The DSC measurements revealed large differences between the denaturation profiles of rat brain supernatants and blood serum. The thermograms of brain tissues displayed clearly expressed low-temperature exothermic transitions with peaks in the range 35–45°C which are missing in blood serum samples. There were differences between the termograms of the separate brain segments as well. The thermodynamic parameters of the denaturation profiles were also determined.
Conclusion: These measurements show that DSC is an appropriate method with great potential for detection and characterization of the changes taking place at molecular level in different tissues, especially in brain tissues affected by neurodegenerative disorders.
Acknowledgements: This research was made with the support of Science Fund at Medical University-Sofia, Bulgaria, Project 8-C/2016 and National Science Fund Project DN03/13/2016.