[Abstract Title]. - Society for Neuroscience

Poster
232. Developmental Cell Death: Biological Effects
Time: Sunday, November 16, 2008, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Program#/Poster#: 232.2/B42
Topic: A.06.a. Developmental cell death: Biological effects
Title: Undernutrition during the gestation and suckling periods does not cause loss of pyramidal
neurons in the ca2-ca3 region of the rat hippocampus
Authors: *K. S. BEDI 1 , G. PARTADIREDJA 2 ;
1 Fac. of Hlth. Sci. and Med., Bond Univ., QLD, Australia; 2 Dept. of Physiology,, Fac. of
Medicine, Gadjah Mada University,, Gadjah Mada University,, Indonesia
Abstract: Undernutrition during early life is known to affect the morphology of the hippocampal
formation including causing deficits in the numbers of dentate gyrus granule cells and neurons
within the hilus region. Other studies have indicated that the pyramidal cells in the CA2-CA3
region are relatively spared and their total numbers are unaffected by undernutrition during the
gestation period. We hypothesised that this may not be the case in animals subjected to a
lengthier period of undernutrition extending from conception until the end of the suckling period
at 21 post-natal days-of-age. Wistar rats were undernourished during this period by restricting
the amount of food given to their pregnant or lactating mothers to about half that eaten by control
mothers. Rats were then weaned on to an ad libitum diet. Groups of well-fed control and
undernourished were killed for examination at 21 and 62 days of age. The left hippocampal
formation from each animal was dissected out and prepared for stereological analysis using
routine histological procedures. The Cavalieri principle and disector methods were used,
respectively, to estimate the layer volume and numerical densities of cells in the CA2-CA3
subfield. These estimates were later used to calculate the total numbers of pyramidal cells in this
subregion. There were between 180-212 thousand pyramidal cells in the CA2-CA3 region in
control animals at both 21 and 62 days of age. Twenty-one-day-old undernourished rats had
about 152 thousand such cells and this increased to about 206 thousand by 62 days-of-age.
Analysis of variance tests on this data revealed a significant main effect of age but no group or
interaction effects. Our experiments therefore confirm that these hippocampal pyramidal neurons
are relatively spared the adverse effects of undernutrition during early life, even when this is
extended to include both the gestation and suckling periods.
Disclosures: K.S. Bedi , None; G. Partadiredja, None.