EFFECTS OF PRENATAL COCAINE EXPOSURE IN THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX OF THE RAT - A MORPHOMETRIC EVALUATION

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 1995

Authors

xavier, mr (Author) Other; tavares, ma (Author) FMUP; machado, jd (Author) Other; silvaaraujo, a (Author) Other; silva, mc (Author) ICBAS

Journal

Title: Molecular Neurobiology

Vol. 11

Pages: 99-110

ISSN: 0893-7648

Publisher: Springer Nature

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 2 Citations

Scopus - 2 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Medical and Health sciences > Basic medicine

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-001-GK9

DOI: 10.1007/BF02740688

Abstract (EN): This work was undertaken in order to assess the organization of the prelimbic area of the medial prefrontal cortex of rats exposed prenatally to cocaine. Pregnant Wistar rats were assigned to the following groups: 1. Cocaine-60 mg/kg body wt/d sc, from gestational days 8-22; 2. Saline; 3. Pair-fed; and 4. Nonmanipulated. Male offspring were perfused on postnatal days 14 and 30. Six brains per group and per age were embedded in celloidin to calculate the volumes of the prelimbic area; sections from the other six brains were embedded in resin and processed for electron microscopy. Using semithin sections (2 mu m) of layers II-III and V-VI, the following parameters were calculated: 1. The fraction of the neuropil occupied by neurons (V-V); 2. The packing (N-A) density; and 3. The numerical (N-V) density. Qualitative alterations consisted of dispersed profiles of degenerated neurons and dendrites in the medial prefrontal cortex. No significant differences were found in the gross morphometric parameters when the cocaine group was compared with the other groups. A high interanimal variation was shown in the prelimbic volumes of postnatal day (PND) 14 cocaine-treated rats, and a decrease in volumes was detected at PND30. Although there are some alterations in the main afferent cortical target area for dopaminergic input, its gross morphometric parameters do not seem to be sufficiently affected to account for the behavioral alterations referred to as being dependent on this brain region.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 12