NERVE GROWTH-FACTOR (NGF) IN RAT-BRAIN FOLLOWING LONG-TERM BARBITAL TREATMENT - RELATION TO CONVULSIONS AND COGNITIVE FUNCTION

Citation
G. Wahlstrom et al., NERVE GROWTH-FACTOR (NGF) IN RAT-BRAIN FOLLOWING LONG-TERM BARBITAL TREATMENT - RELATION TO CONVULSIONS AND COGNITIVE FUNCTION, Neuroscience letters, 137(1), 1992, pp. 65-68
Citations number
23
Journal title
ISSN journal
03043940
Volume
137
Issue
1
Year of publication
1992
Pages
65 - 68
Database
ISI
SICI code
0304-3940(1992)137:1<65:NG(IRF>2.0.ZU;2-E
Abstract
Nerve growth factor (NGF) protein has been implicated in alterations o f cognitive function either following brain damage, selective lesions or aging. Groups of rats were given long-term (48 weeks) oral barbital treatment or tap water and following an extended period of abstinence (14 weeks) were tested for spatial learning ability in the Morris swi m maze. Following the maze test, they were sacrificed and the NGF cont ent of hippocampal and cortical brain regions were analyzed. Barbital treated rats were divided into convulsing and non-convulsing groups. I t was found that there was a slight, significant increase (12%) in NGF content of the hippocampus in convulsing rats. Correlations between m aze learning performance, brain weight and NGF in the cortex indicated a significant negative relationship between (a) performance and brain weight on day 1 of testing and (b) NGF content and performance on day 2. These data indicate some involvement of NGF in functions derived f rom a considerably different animal model to those applied previously.