title: Neuroprotective effects of lactation against kainic acid treatment in the dorsal hippocampus of the rat.
abstract: Marked hippocampal changes in response to excitatory amino acid agonists occur during pregnancy (e.g. decreased frequency in spontaneous recurrent seizures in rats with KA lesions of the hippocampus) and lactation (e.g. reduced c-Fos expression in response to N-methyl-d,l-aspartic acid but not to kainic acid). In this study, the possibility that lactation protects against the excitotoxic damage induced by KA in hippocampal areas was explored. We compared cell damage induced 24 h after a single systemic administration of KA (5 or 7.5 mg/kg bw) in regions CA1, CA3, and CA4 of the dorsal hippocampus of rats in the final week of lactation to that in diestrus phase. To determine cellular damage in a rostro-caudal segment of the dorsal hippocampus, we used NISSL and Fluorojade staining, immunohistochemistry for active caspase-3 and TUNEL, and we observed that the KA treatment provoked a significant loss of neurons in diestrus rats, principally in the pyramidal cells of CA1 region. In contrast, in lactating rats, pyramidal neurons from CA1, CA3, and CA4 in the dorsal hippocampus were significantly protected against KA-induced neuronal damage, indicating that lactation may be a natural model of neuroprotection.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D.F., 04510, Mexico.
authors.forename: América
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vanoye-Carlo
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morales
authors.forename: Eugenia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mendoza-Rodríguez
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cerbón
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects; D004031:Diestrus / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D007608:Kainic Acid / Q000633:toxicity; D007774:Lactation / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D009498:Neurotoxins / Q000633:toxicity; D009562:Nissl Bodies / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D009498:Neurotoxins; D053148:Caspase 3; D007608:Kainic Acid