Original contributionSex differences in response to kainic acid and estradiol in the hippocampus of newborn rats
Section snippets
Animals and treatment
Subjects were first-generation descendants of Sprague–Dawley albino rats from Charles River Laboratory (Wilmington, MA, USA). Female rats were bred in the University of Maryland School of Medicine animal colony. Pregnant females were checked daily for the presence of pups and day of birth was designated as PN0. Litters were excluded which did not contain at least four male and four female pups. All animals were housed under a 12-h light/dark cycle, with food and water provided. All animal
Brain/body mass
Analysis of potential systemic effects on pup growth and development by KA, estradiol and the combination of estradiol and KA was assessed via measurements of body and brain mass. There were no significant differences between groups in either measure (Table 2).
Neun-ir neuron counts
A sex difference in neuron number (Fig. 1) and mean volume is apparent throughout the hippocampal formation (Table 3). Comparisons of NeuN-ir neuron counts in the female versus male control demonstrate an effect of sex (F1,27=10.46; P
Discussion
Animal models of pediatric brain damage have focused on the PN7 rat pup as animals of this age are particularly susceptible to neuronal damage induced by KA, with the CA1 region being the primary site of damage (Cook and Crutcher, 1986). Rat pups less than a week old are generally impervious to the excitotoxic effects of glutamate due to the relatively low expression and functionality of the NMDA and AMPA receptors, the primary mediators of excitotoxicity Liu et al 1996, Wolf and Keilhoff 1984,
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