title: Influence of antenatal synthetic glucocorticoid administration on pyramidal cell morphology and microtubule-associated protein type 2 (MAP2) in rat cerebrocortical neurons.
abstract: Previous animal studies have indicated that excessive prenatal circulating glucocorticoid (GC) levels induced by the antenatal administration of synthetic GC (sGC) significantly alter neuronal development in the cerebellar and hippocampal neurons of the offspring. However, it is unknown whether antenatal sGC administration results in long-term neocortical pyramidal cell impairment. In the current study, we examined whether an equivalent therapeutic dose of antenatal betamethasone phosphate (BET) in pregnant rats alters the Golgi-stained basilar dendritic length and histochemical expression of dendritic microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) of neocortical pyramidal cells in infant, adolescent, and young adult offspring. The results obtained showed thatin uteroBET exposure resulted in a significant reduction in the basilar dendritic length per neuron and a transient reduction in histochemical MAP2 immunoreactivity. Consistent with previous hippocampal and cerebellar data, the present findings suggest that prenatal BET administration alters the dendritic growth of cerebrocortical pyramidal cells.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Neurociencias, Escuela de Kinesiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile.
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pascual
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Neurociencias, Escuela de Kinesiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cuevas
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Neurociencias, Escuela de Kinesiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile.
authors.forename: Odra
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Santander
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Neurociencias, Escuela de Kinesiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Valencia
keywords: dendritic outgrowth; glucocorticoids; microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2); pyramidal cells