Activation of pro-apoptotic cells, reactive astrogliosis and hyperphosphorylation of tau protein in trimethyltin-induced hippocampal injury in rats

Neurodegenerative diseases cause neural cells to lose both the functional and sensory abilities as a result of genetic factors, proteopathies and mitochondrial dysfunction. Neurodegeneration forms the basis of most neurodegenerative disorders for example Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s diseases, and Parkinson’s diseases. The mechanism that underlines the process of neurodegeneration is not well understood. Understanding the process and mechanism involved in neurodegeneration might offer a better therapeutic approach to positively manage cases of neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, this study’s target was to create an animal model to study neurodegeneration. Sixteen adult male Wistar rats were used in the study and divided into two groups. Control (0.2 mL of normal saline (NS)), and trimethyltin-treated (TMT, 8 mg/kg stat dose only). These animals underwent perfusion with 4% paraformaldehyde, brain excision and analysis of p53 antigen, GFAP and Bielshowsky on these tissues. The results showed that animals in the control group showed presence of activated p53 antigen, reactive astrogliosis, neurofibrillary tangles, and amyloid plaques within the cytoplasm of the hippocampal cells. Cornus Ammonis (CA2) and (CA3) showed more of the trimethylrtin injury than CA1 and CA4. This study thus revealed that, intra-peritoneal administration of single dose of 8mg/kg of trimethyltin can offer an attractive disease model to study some neurodegenerative diseases. Keywords: p53 antigen, Bielshowsky, Glia fibrillary acidic protein, Trimethyltin, Hippocampus

Assessment of Perceived Family Psychological Support among Depressed Patients in two Psychiatric Hospitals Kaduna State

A family member experiencing mental illness or any other challenge usually finds the family as the first point of support. Family members supply the required psychological support and care for the affected family member.  This study assessed the perceived family psychological support among depressed patients in Psychiatric Hospitals, Kaduna State Nigeria.  The study adopted a descriptive cross sectional research design. One hundred and forty-four (144) depressed patients were randomly selected from Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital and Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital (FNPH) both in Kaduna State. Statistical package social sciences (SPSS) version 22, was used to analyse the data. The results showed that 40% of the 144 participants claimed to be psychologically supported by their families.  This means that less than half of the depressed patients under review, had high level of perceived psychological support from their family members. Females received more family psychological support than their male counterparts. Recovery rate, using the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS), was significantly correlated with the level of family members’ psychological support. It is therefore, recommended that more focus should be placed on enhancing more family psychological supports for depressed patients most especially in the areas of encouragement towards health education, religious and / or spiritual activities, brightening the moods of their patients, and  more moral support. Also, family focused psycho education should be provided to family members of depressed patients by the professional care givers. Keywords: Psychological Support, Family, Care, Depression, Tertiary Hospital