IGF-1 expression in the cerebellum of the developing Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat (SHR)

JOANA ASENSIO; ALICIA SELTZER; SERGIO BENITEZ; SUSANA VALDEZ

Córdoba

Congreso; XXXIII Annual Meeting of the Society for Research in Neuroscience; 2018

Sociedad Argentina de Investigaciones en Neurociencias

The Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat (SHR) grows in a chronic hypoxic environment due to placental insufficiency. This situation resembles that of the IUGR, one of the major problems in perinatal medicine representing one of main causes of perinatal mortality and morbidity. Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) serves as a promoting factor for Purkinje cell postnatal survival and dendritic growth, and it stimulates repair mechanisms after hypoxic damage. An increase in IGF-1 levels has been associated with enhanced reactive astrocytosis. The refinement of neuronal circuits during postnatal (P) cerebellar development is critical to their subsequent function and abnormalities in this process can result in neurodevelopmental disorders, as shown by the SHR rats. We examined the expression of IGF-1 by RT-PCR in the cerebellum of SHR and of the normotensive counterparts of the WKY strain, at P7 and P14. We also measured GFAP immunofluorescence in the cerebellum white matter (WM) and c. callosum (CC) of littermates. We found an increase IGF-1 expression in the WM of the SHR at P14 (p