Aberrant expression of neurotrophic factors in the ventricular progenitor cells of infant congenitally hydrocephalic rats.
OBJECTIVE
This study was conducted to investigate the roles of neurotrophic factors in the development of hydrocephalus in HTX rats.


METHODS
Expressions of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), and fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-1 were examined immunohistochemically in the cerebral cortex and ventricular zone of 6-day-old rats with congenital hydrocephalus (HTX rats). In the ventricular zone of hydrocephalic rats, potent BDNF-like immunoreactivity (-LI) and weak but significant signals for NT-3- and FGF-1-LIs were observed. However, no significant signals were detected in non-HTX rats. A small subpopulation of ventricular cells was positive for microtubule-associated protein 2 in HTX and non-HTX rats. The positive cells in the HTX rats had neurites much longer than those in the non-HTX animals, suggesting that some ventricular cells of the hydrocephalics had ectopically differentiated into mature neurons.


CONCLUSIONS
This abnormal differentiation may have been responsible for the aberrant expressions of neurotrophic factors. In contrast, the cerebral neuronal layers did not show such prominent alterations in neurotrophic factor expression.
Fukumitsu
H
H
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Gifu Pharmaceutical University, Mitahota-higashi, Japan.
Ohmiya
M
M
Nitta
A
A
Furukawa
S
S
Mima
T
T
Mori
K
K
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000378:metabolism*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000378:metabolism; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles / Q000378:metabolism*; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D006849:Hydrocephalus / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D023421:Models, Animal; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology; D020933:Neurotrophin 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism*
D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D020933:Neurotrophin 3; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors