Premium
Prenatal hypoxia down regulates the GABA pathway in newborn mice cerebral cortex; partial protection by MgSO 4
Author(s) -
LouzounKaplan Vered,
Zuckerman Michal,
Regino PerezPolo J.,
Golan Hava M.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
international journal of developmental neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.761
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1873-474X
pISSN - 0736-5748
DOI - 10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2007.09.002
Subject(s) - hypoxia (environmental) , glutamate decarboxylase , hippocampal formation , cerebral cortex , endocrinology , medicine , epilepsy , prenatal stress , neuroscience , hippocampus , fetus , biology , gestation , pregnancy , chemistry , biochemistry , genetics , oxygen , organic chemistry , enzyme
Abstract The fetal and newborn brain is particularly susceptible to hypoxia, which increases the risk for neurodevelopmental deficits, seizures, epilepsy and life‐span motor, behavioral and cognitive disabilities. Here, we report that prenatal hypoxia at gestation day 17 in mice caused an immediate decrease in fetal cerebral cortex levels of glutamate decarboxylase, a key proteins in the GABA pathway. While maternal MgSO 4 treatment prior to hypoxia did not have an early effect, it did accelerate maturation at a later stage based on the observed protein expression profile. In addition, MgSO 4 reversed the hypoxia‐induced loss of a subpopulation of inhibitory neurons that express calbindin in cortex at postnatal day 14. In the hippocampus, responses to prenatal hypoxia were also evident 4 days after the hypoxia. However, in contrast to the observations in cerebral cortex, hypoxia stimulated key protein expression in the hippocampus. The hippocampal response to hypoxia was also reversed by maternal MgSO 4 treatment. The data presented here suggests that decreased levels of key proteins in the GABA pathway in the cerebral cortex may lead to high susceptibility to seizures and epilepsy in newborns after prenatal or perinatal hypoxia and that maternal MgSO 4 treatment can reverse the hypoxia‐induced deficits in the GABA pathway.