DNA damage after intracerebroventricular injection of ouabain in rats

There is an emerging body of data suggesting that bipolar disorder is associated with DNA damage. Intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) administration of ouabain in rats results in manic-like alterations. We evaluated DNA damage of peripheral blood, cerebrospinal fluid and hippocampus of rats after i.c.v. ouabain injection. Ouabain-induced hyperlocomotion was examined in an open field. Additionally, we used single cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay) to measure early transient damage in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), hippocampus and blood; and the micronucleus test to measure persistent damage in total blood samples of rats after ouabain administration. Our findings demonstrated that ouabain induced hyperlocomotion in rats, and this response remained up to 7 days following a single i.c.v. injection. In addition, we observed that the persistent increase in the rat spontaneous locomotion is associated with increased hippocampal and peripheral index of early DNA damage in rats. No significant alterations were observed in the micronucleus frequency in total blood samples of the rats after the ouabain i.c.v. injection. These results suggest that ouabain may induce peripheral and central early DNA damage, but this early damage may be repaired.