Resistance of CA1 Pyramidal Cells to STZ-Induced Diabetes in Young Rats Resistencia de las Células Piramidales CA1 a Diabetes Inducida por STZ en Ratas Jóvenes

SUMMARY: The pyramidal cell density of CA1 hippocampal subfield following STZ-induced diabetes in young rats werestudied. 12 male albino 6-week Wistar rats were allocated equally in groups of normal and diabetic. Hyperglycemia induced byStreptozotocin (80 mg/kg) in animals of diabetic group. After 5 weeks of study, all the rats were sacrificed and coronal sections weretaken from dorsal hippocampal formation of the right cerebral hemispheres and stained with crysel violet. The area densities of the CA1pyramidal cells were measured and compared among two groups. No significant difference between the densities of two experimentalgroups was found. The results can arise from the short period of diabetes and also the possible regenerative processes in devel oping brainof the young diabetic rats which compensated significant diabetes-induced neuronal loss. KEY WORDS: Pyramidal cell density; CA1; Hippocampus; Diabetes; Rat. INTRODUCTION It has been shown that diabetes predisposes the patientfor neuropsychiatric deficits as stroke, cerebrovasculardiseases, diabetic encephalopathy, depression and anxiety(Kuhad & Chopra, 2007). Diabetic encephalopathy,characterized by impaired cognitive functions andneurochemical and structural abnormalities, involves directneuronal damage caused by intracellular glucose (Kuhad &Chopra). Primary diabetic encephalopathy may cause byhyperglycemia and impaired insulin action diabetes. Incontrast, secondary diabetic encephalopathy appears to arisefrom hypoxic–ischemic insults due to underlyingmicrovascular disease or as a consequence of hypoglycemia(Sima