Clinical and Experimental Study of the Toxic Neuropsychiatric Effects of Formaldehyde Exposure: Has Garlic a Protective Role?

Background: The central nervous system is one of the most important systems affected by formaldehyde (FA). Aim of Work: This study was designed to assess its toxic neuropsychiatric effects both clinically and experimentally and the protective effects of garlic. Methods: Clinically: 20 workers in the gross anatomy laboratory and 20 libertarians underwent a standardized clinical assessment including medical, neurological and psychiatric examination. Experimental: 40 male rats were divided randomly into four groups. Group I is control group. Group II received 10 mg/kg of FA intraperitoneally once daily for 14 days. Group III was treated with fresh garlic juice (1 ml/100g body weight) once daily by oral gavage for 14 days. Groups VI received fresh garlic juice plus formaldehyde daily for 14 days. At the end of the experiment, the rats’ brains were obtained for histological examination and biochemical analysis. Results: Clinical and psychiatric profile of FA exposed persons’ revealed cognitive impaired, anxious and depressed persons. There were hostile persons with more hostility toward outside. Experimentally, hippocampal and frontal superoxide dismutase and reduced glutathione showed highly significant decrease while malondialdehyde and nitric oxide level showed highly significant increase in formaldehyde treated group when compared with control group. Also histopathological changes in the hippocampal and frontal cortices by light microscope revealed many distorted cells with deeply stained shrunked nuclei and cytoplasm was surrounded by vacuolated pale areas in FA exposed group. Minimization of biochemical and histopathological changes were observed in combined formaldehyde and garlic treated group. Conclusion: The profiles of personality arouse dangerous affairs about the toxic impact of FA on persons, family, and society. Formaldehyde-induced neuronal damage, oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation in brain were minimized by addition of garlic.

Childhood stressful events, HPA axis and anxiety disorders

Anxiety disorders are among the most common of all mental disorders and their pathogenesis is a major topic in psychiatry, both for prevention and treatment. Early stressful life events and alterations of hypothalamic pituitary adrenal(HPA) axis function seem to have a significant role in the onset of anxiety. Existing data appear to support the mediating effect of the HPA axis between childhood traumata and posttraumatic stress disorder. Findings on the HPA axis activity at baseline and after stimuli in panic disordered patients are inconclusive, even if stressful life events may have a triggering function in the development of this disorder. Data on the relationship between stress, HPA axis functioning and obsessive-compulsive disorder(OCD) are scarce and discordant, but an increased activity of the HPA axis is reported in OCD patients. Moreover, normal basal cortisol levels and hyperresponsiveness of the adrenal cortex during a psychosocial stressor are observed in social phobics. Finally,abnormal HPA axis activity has also been observed in generalized anxiety disordered patients. While several hypothesis have attempted to explain these findings over time, currently the most widely accepted theory is that early stressful life events may provoke alterations of the stress response and thus of the HPA axis, that can endure during adulthood, predisposing individuals to develop psychopathology. All theories are reviewed and the authors conclude that childhood life events and HPA abnormalities may be specifically and transnosographically related to all anxiety disorders, as well as, more broadly, to all psychiatric disorders.

Human Brain Slice Culture: A Useful Tool to Study Brain Disorders and Potential Therapeutic Compounds

Investigating the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying brain disorders is a priority if novel therapeutic strategies are to be developed. In vivo studies of animal models and in vitro studies of cell lines/primary cell cultures may provide useful tools to study certain aspects of brain disorders. However, discrepancies among these studies or unsuccessful translation from animal/cell studies to human/clinical studies often occur, because these models generally represent only some symptoms of a neuropsychiatric disorder rather than the complete disorder. Human brain slice cultures from postmortem tissue or resected tissue from operations have shown that, in vitro, neurons and glia can stay alive for long periods of time, while their morphological and physiological characteristics, and their ability to respond to experimental manipulations are maintained. Human brain slices can thus provide a close representation of neuronal networks in vivo, be a valuable tool for investigation of the basis of neuropsychiatric disorders, and provide a platform for the evaluation of novel pharmacological treatments of human brain diseases.A brain bank needs to provide the necessary infrastructure to bring together donors, hospitals, and researchers who want to investigate human brain slices in cultures of clinically and neuropathologically well-documented material.