Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of taurine on the vessel-obliteration of the cerebellum microvasculature of rats exposed to postnatal hyperoxia. For this, two groups of newborn Sprague-Dawley strain rats were exposed to hyperoxia together with their mother, from birth until day P6, P9 and P12. The mother of one group drank 3% taurine solution as drinking water and the mother of the other group only drank water. Two similar groups, but without hyperoxia, were used as controls. For histological and ultrastructural analysis, samples were taken from the cerebellum, specifically from the gray matter at the level of the vermis, and were processed using the plastic embedding technique for semi-thin (0,7μm) and thin (70nm) sections. To characterize the damage to the vascular system, it was taken into consideration whether the capillaries were permeable or obliterated and whether the extensions of the pericapillary astrocytes were edematous or not. In the hyperoxia group, 77% of obliterated vessels were observed, and only 23% of permeable vessels were observed, while in the hyperoxia taurine group, 67% of permeable vessels were observed. Ultraestructurally, the obliterated vessels of the hyperoxia group showed edematous mitochondria with fragmented ridges, unlike the hyperoxia taurine group where the mitochondria were observed to be normal. The results demonstrate that the administration of taurine had a beneficial effect by preventing vaso-obliteration of the capillaries of the cerebellar cortex on rats exposed to postnatal hyperoxia.