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Guanidinoethyl sulfonate (GES), a transport antagonist of taurine, was given to pregnant rats from day 11 to 21 of gestation as a 1 % solution in drinking water. On day 21 of gestation in GES-treated pregnant rats, the concentration of taurine markedly decreased in the fetal whole body (54% of the control), the fetal liver (37%), the fetal whole brain (87%), the placenta (32%), the maternal liver (33%), the maternal whole brain (32%), and the maternal plasma (46 %). The wet weight of fetal whole body, liver and brain of fetus, and placenta also showed a significant drop. But there were no differences of weight gain, in the liver and brain weights of the mother of the control and GES-treated pregnant rats. The urinary excretion of taurine in pregnant rats treated with GES was much higher than that of the controls. These results suggest that the administration of GES to pregnant rats induces much urinary taurine excretion with a resulting decrease in the tissue taurine content and readily produces taurine-deficient fetal rats.

Our results reinforce the benefits of aerobic exercise, which include positive modulation of antioxidant homeostasis in the hippocampi. The effects of exercise are not permanent; rather, an exercise regimen must be continued in order to maintain the neurometabolic adaptations.

The ribose-5-phosphate isomerase deficiency is an inherited condition, which results in cerebral d-arabitol and ribitol accumulation. Patients present leukoencephalopathy, mental retardation, and psychomotor impairment. Considering that the pathophysiology of this disorder is still unclear, and literature are sparse and contradictory, reporting pro and antioxidant activities of polyols, the main objective of this study was to investigate some parameters of oxidative homeostasis of prefrontal cortex of rats incubated with d-arabitol and ribitol. We found evidences that ribitol promoted an increase in antioxidant enzymes activity (superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase), probably secondary to enhanced production of superoxide radical, measured by flow cytometry. Oxidation of proteins and lipids was not induced by polyols. Our data allow us to conclude that, at least in our methodological conditions, arabitol and ribitol probably have a secondary effect on the pathophysiology of ribose-5-phosphate isomerase deficiency.

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