TY - JOUR
T1 - Pregnancy improves cognitive deficit and neuronal morphology atrophy in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of aging spontaneously hypertensive rats
AU - Cabrera-Pedraza, Verónica R.
AU - de Jesús Gómez-Villalobos, María
AU - de la Cruz, Fidel
AU - Aguilar-Alonso, Patricia
AU - Zamudio, Sergio
AU - Flores, Gonzalo
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PY - 2017/10
Y1 - 2017/10
N2 - It is well known that the survival is higher in women compared to men and women have a better survival prognosis than men in some pathologies such as vascular dementia (VD). Our previous reports showed that the spontaneously hypertensive (SH) rat, an animal model of VD, exhibited dendritic atrophy of pyramidal neurons of the dorsal hippocampus (DH) and the prefrontal cortex (PFC) at 8 months of age. Cerebrolysin (CBL), a neurotrophic peptide mixture, reduces dendritic atrophy and improves the memory process in aged rats. Here, we investigated whether one pregnancy or/and CBL was capable of improving cognitive behavior and neuronal alterations in old female SH rats. Diastolic and systolic blood pressure were assessed before pregnancy (3 months old) and CBL administration (6 months old), and after CBL administration (12 months old). Immediately after of 6 months of CBL treatment, locomotor activity in novel environments and memory and learning by the Morris Water Maze test were evaluated. By the Golgi-Cox staining method, dendritic parameters were assessed in PFC and DH. Our results suggest that rats with one pregnancy showed better memory with an enhancement in dendritic length and dendritic spine density in the aforementioned regions.
AB - It is well known that the survival is higher in women compared to men and women have a better survival prognosis than men in some pathologies such as vascular dementia (VD). Our previous reports showed that the spontaneously hypertensive (SH) rat, an animal model of VD, exhibited dendritic atrophy of pyramidal neurons of the dorsal hippocampus (DH) and the prefrontal cortex (PFC) at 8 months of age. Cerebrolysin (CBL), a neurotrophic peptide mixture, reduces dendritic atrophy and improves the memory process in aged rats. Here, we investigated whether one pregnancy or/and CBL was capable of improving cognitive behavior and neuronal alterations in old female SH rats. Diastolic and systolic blood pressure were assessed before pregnancy (3 months old) and CBL administration (6 months old), and after CBL administration (12 months old). Immediately after of 6 months of CBL treatment, locomotor activity in novel environments and memory and learning by the Morris Water Maze test were evaluated. By the Golgi-Cox staining method, dendritic parameters were assessed in PFC and DH. Our results suggest that rats with one pregnancy showed better memory with an enhancement in dendritic length and dendritic spine density in the aforementioned regions.
KW - Morris Water Maze test
KW - dendritic length
KW - dendritic spine number
KW - locomotor activity
KW - memory and learning
KW - pregnancy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85024482319&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/syn.21991
DO - 10.1002/syn.21991
M3 - Artículo
C2 - 28681457
SN - 0887-4476
VL - 71
JO - Synapse
JF - Synapse
IS - 10
M1 - e21991
ER -