Neuroprotective effects of lactation against kainic acid treatment in the dorsal hippocampus of the rat

Enhancing Hippocampal Neuronal Numbers in Morphine-Dependent Rats by Voluntary Exercise Through a Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor-Mediated Mechanism

“…Left hippocampus were coronally cutat 5-μm thick sections and stained with cresyl fast violet (Nissl) (20) by an experimenter blinded to the study codes for each sample. Ten sections of each animal were used to neuron counting.…”

Estrogen receptors increased expression during hippocampal neuroprotection in lactating rats

“…Recently, we reported that the dorsal hippocampus of the mother is protected against cellular damage caused by systemic administration of KA, as compared to virgin rats during metestrus phase of the oestrous cycle, and the mechanisms that participate in this process are not fully understood [21]. However, the hormones involved in lactation, such as steroid hormones, are thought to participate in this phenomenon.…”

“…Similar levels of sexual steroid hormones, estradiol (10.5 ± 6.3 pg/ml vs. 15.0 ± 5.7 pg/ml) and progesterone (<10.0 ng/ml) are exhibited under both conditions, but circulating levels of corticosterone (>300 ng/ml in lactating vs. <300 ng/ml in metestrus rats) are chronically higher during lactation [21,22]. Each experimental or control group contained five animals.…”

“…Using different methods to assess cell damage, we established that the brain of the lactating rat was significantly less sensitive to excitotoxic damage induced by kainate than the metestrus rat [21]. The aim of the present study was to determine changes in the expression of ERs and their distribution in the hippocampus of normal and kainic acid treated lactating rats, to elucidate the possible contribution of ERs in neuroprotection against kainic acid cell damage observed in lactating rats.…”

Neuroprotective Actions of the Synthetic Estrogen 17α-Ethynylestradiol in the Hippocampus

“…Administration of kainic acid produces, among others, a selective loss of hippocampal CA3 pyramidal neurons and dentate hilar neurons (Shetty and Turner 1999;Buckmaster and Dudek 1997;Hattiangady et al 2004;Ben-Ari and Cossart 2000), and has been used as a useful tool for exploring the neuroprotective actions of different agents (Cortes-Canteli et al 2008;Vanoye-Carlo et al 2008;Karanian et al 2007), including several estrogenic compounds (Azcoitia et al 1998(Azcoitia et al , 1999bReibel et al 2000;Velísková et al 2000;Picazo et al 2003;Ciriza et al 2004;Azcoitia et al 2006). On the other hand, the neurotoxin quinolinic acid induces neuronal excitotoxicity through the stimulation of NMDA receptors (Brickell et al 1999;Kuroki et al 2001) and similar to kainic acid, it has been used as an insult in several biological preparations (Heron and Daya 2001;Kuroki et al 2001;Figueiredo et al 2008;González-Cortés et al 2008).…”