Figure 4.

Effect of maternal hypoxia on morphological changes and cell death. A: Representative Nissl stained CA1 hippocampal area in coronal brain sections from normoxic and maternal hypoxic groups at day 0, 4, and 7 are shown. Scale bars indicate 10 μm (20 μm in the insets). At higher magnifications in hypoxia animals, the number of cells in hypoxia animals was markedly reduced and arrows indicate dying cells or empty spaces after cells died. Normal neurons are indicated by the arrows in the normoxia slides. B: Cell death counting revealed a significant cell loss after maternal hypoxia at day 0, 4, and 7. There were no detectable differences in the number of dead cells at day 14 and 21 (data not shown). *p < 0.05, N = 6 rats per group (three counting areas in each slide from each animal). The inserted brain slide photo indicates the areas that samples were taken. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.]