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Downregulation of Hippocampal GABA after Hypoxia-Induced Seizures in Neonatal Rats

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Abstract

This study aims to determine the expression of Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) following hypoxia in neonatal rats and explore how it may increase susceptibility to epilepsy later in life. A modified model of neonatal hypoxia-induced epileptic susceptibility was simulated by 17 min of hypoxia (5% O2 and 95% N2) in postnatal day (P) 10 rats. Hippocampal glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) and parvalbumin (PV) during the development with or without hypoxia were examined using immunohistochemistry. No detectable neuronal loss was observed in the hippocampus either immediately or 14 days after hypoxia. During the development GAD- and PV-immunoreactivity increased substantially during P 11–13 and reached mature expression in the control rats, and decreased significantly at different time points except for a transient increase during P 11–13 in the hypoxic groups. Our study indicates that downregulation of hippocampal GABA after hypoxia-induced seizures in neonatal rats may contribute to higher epileptic susceptibility in later life.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong, China (Project 8151018201000035). Our sincere thanks go to Dr. Felicia Chow (Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University) and Mr. DU Peifeng (Institute for Standardization of Nuclear Industry) for editing this paper. Also, we thank the reviewers for useful comments on an earlier version of the article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Neurosciences, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College, 250 Changgang Dong RD, Guangzhou, 510260, People’s Republic of China

    Yanmei Wang, Lixuan Zhan, Wei Zeng, Ke Li, Weiwen Sun & En Xu

  2. Key Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Channelopathies of Guangdong Province and the Ministry of Education of China, Guangzhou, 510260, China

    Yanmei Wang, Lixuan Zhan, Wei Zeng, Ke Li, Weiwen Sun & En Xu

  3. Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA

    Zao C. Xu

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  1. Yanmei Wang
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  2. Lixuan Zhan
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  3. Wei Zeng
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  4. Ke Li
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  6. Zao C. Xu
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Correspondence to En Xu.

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Wang, Y., Zhan, L., Zeng, W. et al. Downregulation of Hippocampal GABA after Hypoxia-Induced Seizures in Neonatal Rats. Neurochem Res 36, 2409–2416 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-011-0565-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-011-0565-4

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