Etanol e suas associações : efeitos comportamentais e cardiovasculares
Resumo
Alcohol abuse is a worldwide problem with concomitant medical, social
and economic costs. In Brazil, epidemiological data show an increase in the
abuse of illicit and licit drugs, such as ethanol and steroids. Studies indicate that
physical exercise influences ethanol consumption and preference and is
positively correlated with steroids abuse. Despite many evidences, there is no
study about the association between ethanol consumption, physical exercise
and steroids abuse. In the present study, we investigated 1) the effects of
physical exercise associated to testosterone treatment in ethanol intermittent
access drinking; 2) consequences of the association between physical exercise,
ethanol intermittent access and chronic testosterone treatment upon the
cardiovascular system of rats. Many studies suggest that the mTORC1-
mammalian target of rapamycin complex participates in the mechanisms related
to ethanol abuse. In this way, we investigated the mTORC1 role in the ethanol
intermittent access consumption maintenance. Our results showed that a)
physical exercise improved treadmill performance in rats and did not change
ethanol consumption; b) ethanol voluntary consumption was not affected either
by physical exercise or by testosterone treatment; c) ethanol voluntary
intermittent access did not change basal arterial pressure and heart rate; d)
testosterone treatment caused rest bradycardia; e) ethanol consumption and
testosterone treatment altered vascular reactivity to vasoactive agents, that was
also altered by physical exercise. These results show the first evidence of
ethanol intermittent access and testosterone treatment on cardiovascular
functions in trained rats. Our results also suggest that the downstream
mTORC1 pathway is related to excessive and abusive ethanol consumption.