title: Effects of prenatal irradiation on behaviour and hippocampal neurogenesis in adult rats.
abstract: Prenatal irradiation is known to have aversive effects on the brain development, manifested in changes in some behavioural parameters in adult individuals. The aim of our work was to assess the effect of prenatal irradiation on different forms of behaviour and on hippocampal neurogenesis in rats. Pregnant female rats were irradiated with a dose of 1 Gy of gamma rays on the 16th day of gravidity. The progeny of irradiated and control animals aged 3 months were tested in Morris water maze (MWM), open field (OF) and in elevated plus maze test (PM). The prenatal irradiation negatively influenced the short-term spatial memory in MWM in female rats, although the long-term memory was not impaired. A statistically significant increase of basic locomotor activity in OF was observed in irradiated rats. The comfort behaviour was not altered. The results of PM showed an increase of anxiety in irradiated females. The level of hippocampal neurogenesis, assessed as the number of cells labelled with 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine in the area of gyrus dentatus, was not statistically different in irradiated rats. Our results indicate, that prenatal irradiation with a low dose of gamma-rays can affect some innate and learned forms of behaviour in adult rats. We did not confirm a relation of behavioural changes to the changes of hippocampal neurogenesis.
authors: P. J. Šafárik University in Košice Institute of Biology and Ecology, Košice, Slovak Republic.
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Tomášová
authors: Beňadik
authors: B
authors: Smajda
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Sevc
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000528:radiation effects*; D005260:Female; D005720:Gamma Rays / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000254:growth & development / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000528:radiation effects*; D008297:Male; D018811:Maternal Exposure; D008568:Memory / Q000528:radiation effects; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000528:radiation effects; D055495:Neurogenesis / Q000528:radiation effects*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D011833:Radiation Injuries, Experimental / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000528:radiation effects