title: Prenatal protein malnutrition alters the proportion but not numbers of parvalbumin-immunoreactive interneurons in the hippocampus of the adult Sprague-Dawley rat.
abstract: Prenatal protein malnutrition alters the structure and function of the adult rat hippocampal formation. The current study examines the effect of prenatal protein malnutrition on numbers of parvalbumin-immunoreactive (PV-IR) GABAergic interneurons, which are important for perisomatic inhibition of hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Brain sections from prenatally protein malnourished and normally nourished rats were stained for parvalbumin and PV-IR neurons were quantified using stereology in the dentate gyrus, CA3/2 and CA1 subfields, and the subiculum for both cerebral hemispheres. Results demonstrated that prenatal malnutrition did not affect the number of PV-IR interneurons in the hippocampus. Since prenatal protein malnutrition reduces total neuron numbers in the CA1 subfield (1), this results in an altered ratio of PV-IR interneurons to total neuronal numbers (from 1:22.9 in controls to 1:20.5 in malnourished rats). Additionally, there was no hemispheric asymmetry of either PV-IR neuron numbers or ratio of PV-IR:total neuron numbers.
authors: Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA.
authors: James P
authors: JP
authors: Lister
authors: Gene J
authors: GJ
authors: Blatt
authors: Thomas L
authors: TL
authors: Kemper
authors: John
authors: J
authors: Tonkiss
authors: William A
authors: WA
authors: DeBassio
authors: Janina R
authors: JR
authors: Galler
authors: Douglas L
authors: DL
authors: Rosene
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018891:Dentate Gyrus / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D007395:Interneurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology; D010320:Parvalbumins / Q000378:metabolism*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D011502:Protein-Energy Malnutrition / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D010320:Parvalbumins