title: Neurone-specific enolase persists in some hippocampal cells 24 hours after an NMDA injection.
abstract: Neurone-specific enolase immunoreactivity (NSE-IR) was examined in the hippocampal dentate gyrus 5 h, 24 h and 6 days following local injection of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), and was compared with Nissl substance and acid fuchsin staining. Five and 24 hours post-injection extracellular NSE-IR was increased, and the number of NSE-IR neurones in the granule cell layer was decreased. However, at 24 h post-injection only, 10-15% of the granule cells were strongly NSE-IR, in contrast to the Nissl/acid fuchsin staining which showed a homogeneous population of degenerating neurones. By 6 days there were no viable neurones in the lesion area stained by either method. These results show that neuronal degeneration after an excitotoxic insult occurs in a non-uniform way in an apparently homogeneous group of central neurones.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Comer
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Lees
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lipski
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001557:Benzenesulfonates; D016923:Cell Death; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007267:Injections; D008297:Male; D016202:N-Methylaspartate / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013194:Staining and Labeling
chemical_list: D001557:Benzenesulfonates; D016202:N-Methylaspartate; C086337:acid fuchsin; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase