Anatomy of corpus callosum in prenatally malnourished rats.
The effect of prenatal malnutrition on the anatomy of the corpus callosum was assessed in adult rats (45-52 days old). In the prenatally malnourished animals we observed a significant reduction of the corpus callosum total area, partial areas, and perimeter, as compared with normal animals. In addition, the splenium of corpus callosum (posterior fifth) showed a significant decrease of fiber diameters in the myelinated fibers without changing density. There was also a significant decrease in diameter and a significant increase in density of unmyelinated fibers. Measurements of perimeter's fractal dimensions from sagittal sections of the brain and corpus callosum did not show significant differences between malnourished and control animals. These findings indicate that cortico-cortical connections are vulnerable to the prenatal malnutrition, and suggest this may affect interhemispheric conduction velocity, particularly in visual connections (splenium).
Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas Animales, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias y Pecuarias, Universidad de Chile, Chile. rolivare@uchile.cl
Ricardo
R
Olivares
Carlos
C
Morgan
Hernán
H
Pérez
Alejandro
A
Hernández
Francisco
F
Aboitiz
Rubén
R
Soto-Moyano
Julio
J
Gil
Alexis
A
Ortiz
Osvaldo
O
Flores
Miguel
M
Gimeno
Jesús
J
Laborda
D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D035061:Control Groups; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley