Abstract PR155: A Single High Oral Dose of Resveratrol Can Prevent the Development of Cognitive Dysfunction After Abdominal Surgery in Aged Rats

Background & Objectives: Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is known as one of the common complications in geriatric patients. Although the pathogenesis of POCD may be multi-factorial, increasing evidence show links between POCD and neuroinflammation. More recently, we reported that preoperative exercise training can attenuate the development of neuroinflammation and related POCD. As with exercise training, resveratrol, a red wine polyphenol, increases mitochondrial biogenesis, stimulates angiogenesis and improve insulin sensitivity. In the present study, we investigated the preventive effect of resveratrol on the development of neuroinflammation and concomitant POCD in a rat abdominal surgery model. Materials & Methods: Aged male Wistar rats were used in this study. Experiments were designed for the assessment of in vivo cognition and measurement of hippocampal cytokines, rats were randomly assigned to one of three groups: sham control group, surgery group, and pretreatment with resveratrol-loaded nanoemulsion (a single dose of 85 mg/kg, oral) in surgical rats (Res/surgery group). Surgical group rats underwent a 2-cm midline incision as a laparotomy model. During the laparotomy, 10 cm of the small intestine was exteriorized, and then manipulated for 3 min. After one week recovery period, cognitive function was assessed using novel object recognition test. Recognition memory is expressed as a novel object preference ratio. After cognitive testing, the hippocampus was dissected for measurement of TNF-α by ELISA. Differences between the data sets were evaluated by performing repeated-measure one-way analysis of variance test, followed by Bonferroni post hoc tests. Results with p<0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: At the testing phase in novel object recognition test, the control rats spent more time exploring the novel object than the familiar object, indicating intact recognition memory. On the other hand, the surgical animals exhibited significantly impaired novel object recognition performance. However, such impairment was not observed in the Res/surgery group. Furthermore, the levels of hippocampal TNF-α were significantly higher in surgery group than in non-surgery group. However, these increases in cytokines after abdominal surgery were not found in Res/surgery group. Conclusion: Our results indicated that pretreatment with high dose resveratrol prevented the development of memory deficits after surgery in aged rat via its anti-neuroinflammatory effect. This finding implies that resveratrol can be used as a chemical exercise approach for the prevention of POCD especially in exercise-impediment elderly patients. Disclosure of Interest: None declared