RESUMO
Chronic psychological stress is an important public health issue which generates behavioral changes, anxiety, immunosuppression and oxidative damage. Piracetam is a cognitive enhancer, at cellular level it protects from oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of psychological stress and of piracetam on circulating mononuclear cells by analyzing the biochemical spectrome using Synchrotron Radiation Fourier Transform Infrared Microspectroscopy (SR-µFTIR). Rats were exposed for five days to a stressor (cat odor) under oral administration of piracetam (600â¯mg/kg). SR-µFTIR analysis showed a decrease in bands associated to the lipids region (2852â¯cm-1, 2923â¯cm-1 and 2962â¯cm-1) and an increase absorption of the amide I band (1654â¯cm-1) under stress conditions. The principal component analysis showed increase oxidation of lipids (decrease of 3010â¯cm-1, 2923â¯cm-1 and 2852â¯cm-1 bands) as well as proteins denaturation (increase of 1610â¯cm-1 and 1690â¯cm-1 bands) under stress. Piracetam provided protection to polyunsaturated lipids (pâ¯≤â¯0.001) and lipids/proteins ratio (pâ¯≤â¯0.001). Behaviorally, this drug diminished fear and anxiety in stressed animals by the plus maze test (pâ¯≤â¯0.002). However, this drug induced oxidative stress in mononuclear cells from unstressed animals and altered their behavior.