title: Nitrergic neurons during early postnatal development of the prefrontal cortex in the rat: histochemical study.
abstract: The presence of nitrergic cells in the prefrontal cortex has been confirmed, however little is known about the postnatal development of these cells. Nitrergic neurons were studied histochemically by using NADPH-diaphorase staining in the prefrontal cortex of male Wistar rats from postnatal day 7-21 (P7-21). Neuronal NADPH-diaphorase is a nitric oxide synthase that provides a specific histochemical marker for neurons producing nitric oxide (NO). NO acts as a neurotransmitter and intracellular signaling molecule in the nervous system. We observed in 7 day old rats NADPH-d containing neurons that were intensely stained. These neurons were bipolar with a short dendrite with average length of 23 μm. During the second postnatal week, the neurons were mainly bipolar and were rarely multipolar. By P14 the cells were located primarily in cortical layers III-VI. Nitrergic neurons of the 21 day old rats were histochemically identified as multipolar cells with long radial extending dendrites. Dendrites of neurons in 14 and 21 day old rats were a similar length with an average of 57 μm. These results suggest that nitrergic neurons differentiate during a relatively short period of time and reach their structural maturity by the end of the second week of postnatal development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice, Srobarova 2, Kosice 04180, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hvizdosova
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice, Srobarova 2, Kosice 04180, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Lenka
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tomasova
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice, Srobarova 2, Kosice 04180, Slovak Republic. Electronic address: adriana.bolekova@upjs.sk.
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bolekova
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice, Srobarova 2, Kosice 04180, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Dalibor
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kolesar
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Kosice, Srobarova 2, Kosice 04180, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Darina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kluchova
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D008297:Male; D009252:NADPH Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism; D026602:Nitrergic Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000201:enzymology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000166:cytology* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000254:growth & development*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D009252:NADPH Dehydrogenase
keywords: Dendrites; NADPH-d; Neurons; Nitric oxide; Prefrontal cortex; Rat