At what age is the developing cerebral cortex of the rat comparable to that of the full-term newborn human baby?
By means of a comparative study of experimental data from the literature we estimated at what age the rat cerebral cortex corresponds to that of the full-term newborn human infant with regard to the degree of maturation. As a result of this study we suggest that the 12-13-day-old rat pup fulfills this criterion. This finding should be of use to scientists who use the rat for studying certain processes assumed to occur in the human cerebral cortex around full-term birth.
Netherlands Institute for Brain Research, Amsterdam.
H J
HJ
Romijn
M A
MA
Hofman
A
A
Gramsbergen
D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000196:embryology / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005325:Fetal Organ Maturity; D005968:Glutamate Decarboxylase / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000254:growth & development; D051381:Rats; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism
D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase; D005968:Glutamate Decarboxylase