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The developing central nervous system is extremely sensitive to ethanol, with well-defined temporal periods of vulnerability. Recent studies have shown that administration of ethanol to infant rats during the synaptogenesis period triggers extensive apoptotic neurodegeneration throughout many regions of the developing brain. Furthermore, acute ethanol administration produces lipid peroxidation in the brain as an indicator of oxidative stress. In recent years, it has been shown that erythropoietin (EPO) has a critical role in the development, maintenance, protection, and repair of the nervous system. In the present study, we investigated the effect of EPO against ethanol-induced neurodegeneration and oxidative stress in the developing C57BL/6 mouse brain. Seven-day-old C57BL/6 mice were divided into three groups: control group, saline-treated group, EPO-treated group. Ethanol was administered to mice at a dosage of 2.5 g/kg for two times with a 2-h interval. Recombinant human EPO (rhEPO) was given 1000 U/kg. Twenty-four hours after the first dose of ethanol, all the animals were killed. Neuronal cell death, apoptosis, thiobarbituric acid substance (TBARS) levels, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (Gpx) enzymes activities were evaluated. Histopathological evaluation demonstrated that EPO significantly diminished apoptosis in the cerebellum, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus and also spared hippocampal CA1, CA2, and CA3 neurons. Simultaneous administration of EPO along with ethanol attenuated the lipid peroxidation process and restored the levels of antioxidants. Regarding the wide use of erythropoietin in premature newborns, this agent may be potentially beneficial in treating ethanol-induced brain injury in the perinatal period.

One of the most exciting findings in recent years has been the discovery of RNA interference (RNAi). RNAi is an important system that allows sequence-specific gene silencing through targeted degradation of mRNA by cognate double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). RNAi plays a role in endogenous cellular processes, such as developmental control and heterochromatin formation, and serves as an antiviral defense mechanism. Recent findings suggest that RNAi and related pathways are involved in protecting the genome against instabilities caused by transposons and repetitive sequences. Several rapidly developing RNAi methodologies provide a new approach for elucidation of gene functions. RNAi technology is also currently being evaluated as a potentially useful method to develop highly specific dsRNA-based gene-silencing therapeutics. In this paper, we review the use of RNAi in neuroscience research and as a possible therapeutic tool for treatment of neurological diseases.