title: Effects of early weaning on anxiety and prefrontal cortical and hippocampal myelination in male and female Wistar rats.
abstract: We investigated developmental changes in myelin formation in the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus, and behavioral effects of early weaning in Wistar rats. Early-weaned rats showed decreased numbers of open-arm entries in an elevated plus-maze in both sexes at 4 weeks old; this effect persisted in males, but ceased in females after this age. Expression of myelin basic protein (MBP) showed both age-dependent increases and sex differences; 4-week-old males exhibited higher MBP levels in the hippocampus, whereas 7-week-old males showed lower MBP levels in the prefrontal cortex compared to females of the same age. There was a tendency for group differences from weaning for the 21.5-kDa isoform in the prefrontal cortex. Although these results suggest that male rats are more vulnerable than females to early-weaning effects on anxiety-related behaviors, further detailed analysis is needed to clarify the functional relationship between myelination and anxiety-related behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Veterinary Ethology, University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, 113-8657 Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kodama
authors.forename: Takefumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kikusui
authors.forename: Yukari
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mori
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D004676:Myelin Basic Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D009186:Myelin Sheath / Q000378:metabolism*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014886:Weaning
chemical_list: D004676:Myelin Basic Protein; D020033:Protein Isoforms