Cellular changes in rat brain areas associated with neonatal hippocampal damage

THE neonatal destruction of the ventral hippocampus was introduced as a mod el to recreate features of schizophrenia in the rat. While behavioral conse quences of this intervention have been studied in detail, less is known abo ut the cellular processes underlying the deviant behavior. We studied in ra ts (neonatally or adult lesioned, controls) brain areas receiving or not re ceiving hippocampal projections. The number of neurons and the expression o f the cell markers L-ornithine decarboxylase, nitric oxide synthase/NADPH d iaphorase, calretinin and GFAP were estimated. Reduced numbers of neurons a nd increased immunostaining for ornithine decarboxylase and nitric oxide sy nthase in the prefrontal, perirhinal and entorhinal cortex of neonatally bu t not adult lesioned rats or controls demonstrate persistent cellular chang es after ventral hippocampus damage. NeuroReport 10:2307-2311 (C) 1999 Lipp incott Williams & Wilkins.