We have recently shown that chronic treatment with cannabidiol (CBD) was able to recover memory deficits induced by brain iron loading in a dose-dependent manner in rats. Brain iron accumulation is implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, and has been related to cognitive deficits in animals and human subjects. Deficits in synaptic energy supply have been linked to neurodegenerative diseases, evidencing the key role played by mitochondria in maintaining viable neural cells and functional circuits. It has also been shown that brains of patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases have increased expression of apoptosisrelated proteins and specific DNA fragmentation. Here, we have analyzed the expression level of brain proteins involved with mitochondrial fusion and fission mechanisms (DNM1L and OPA1), the main integral transmembrane protein of synaptic vesicles (synaptophysin), and caspase 3, an apoptosis-related protein, to gain a better understanding of the potential of CBD in restoring the damage caused by iron loading in rats. We found that CBD rescued iron-induced effects, bringing hippocampal DNM1L, caspase 3, and synaptophysin levels back to values comparable to the control group. Our results suggest that iron affects mitochondrial dynamics, possibly trigging synaptic loss and apoptotic cell death and indicate that CBD should be considered as a potential molecule with memory-rescuing and neuroprotective properties to be used in the treatment of cognitive deficits observed in neurodegenerative disorders.

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Exposure to stressful events early in life may have permanent deleterious consequences on nervous system function and increase the susceptibility to psychiatric conditions later in life. Maternal deprivation, commonly used as a source of neonatal stress, impairs memory in adult rats and reduces hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels. Inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukins (IL) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) have been shown to be increased in the peripheral blood of patients with psychiatric disorders. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of maternal separation on the levels of IL-10 and TNF-α, and BDNF in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of adult rats. We also evaluated the potential ameliorating properties of topiramate and valproic acid on memory deficits and cytokine and BDNF changes associated with maternal deprivation. The results indicated that, in addition to inducing memory deficits, maternal deprivation increased the levels of IL-10 in the hippocampus, and TNF-α in the hippocampus and in the cortex, and decreased hippocampal levels of BDNF, in adult life. Neither valproic acid nor topiramate were able to ameliorate memory deficits or the reduction in BDNF induced by maternal separation. The highest dose of topiramate was able to reduce IL-10 in the hippocampus and TNF-α in the prefrontal cortex, while valproate only reduced IL-10 levels in the hippocampus. These findings may have implications for a better understanding of the mechanisms associated with alterations observed in adult life induced by early stressful events, and for the proposal of novel therapeutic strategies.

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e18807 Background:Since December 2019, the world is facing a pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). We sought to analyze the behavior of cancer treatments and procedures in breast cancer in Brazil after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic through an artificial intelligence platform with real life data. Methods:Data evaluation was performed using the TechTrials platform. This platform created a unique healthcare data warehouse containing hundreds of different publicly available data sources about Brazilian Public Health System and with proprietary technology, developed several analytics products that explore and release real-world data (RWD) insights. For this analysis data were extracted from DATASUS – SIA (outpatients information system). For each outcome, data from January 2011 to February 2020 were used to adjust a time series to predict values for March to November 2020. Those values were compared with the observed ones. Results: Biopsies, mammograms and procedures showed a sharp decrease (41.9%, 73.7% and 31.1%, respectively), in April 2020 (following month of the first COVID-19 case in Brazil) with some recovering in the following months. All observed values of biopsies, the number of mammograms from March to October and the number of procedures in April and May were significantly smaller than the predicted ones. Number of women undergoing chemotherapy began to decline in August and remained falling until the last month of available data.(Table). Conclusions: This study is the first one that analyzes RWD of breast cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment in Brazil as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of the decrease observed in screening and diagnosis is already evident in the number of women undergoing chemotherapy. These data will continue to be monitored in the coming months when only then will data be available for staging at diagnosis.[Table: see text]