title: Dexamethasone induces dendritic alteration but not apoptosis in the neurons of the hippocampus in postnatal rats.
abstract: One day old rats received daily injections of dexamethasone and were sacrificed 24 h after the 1st and 7th injections. Neuronal death by apoptosis in the hippocampus was investigated by immunohistochemistry using bcl2, bax and caspase3 antibodies. The immunoreactivity expressed by the pyramidal neurons and the dentate granule cells with these antibodies was comparable in the dexamethasone treated and control rats injected with saline. At the ultrastructural level, the dendrites showed vacuolation indicative of degeneration in the dexamethasone administered rats. Results of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis showed that bcl2 and bax mRNA was constitutively expressed in the hippocampus of control rats and showed no significant change in the dexamethasone treated rats. The results of this study indicate that dexamethasone induces degeneration of the dendrites but does not induce neuronal apoptosis in the hippocampus of postnatal rats.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Blk MD10, 4 Medical Drive, National University of Singapore, 119260 Kent Ridge, Singapore 117597, Singapore.
authors.forename: C K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ananth
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kaur
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D017209:Apoptosis; D003712:Dendrites / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000633:toxicity*; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000633:toxicity*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D051381:Rats; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D003907:Dexamethasone