Figure 4.

Prenatal serum exposure induces stereotypical dopaminergic and GABAergic immunohistochemical alterations partially dependent on LPA₁ signaling. (a) In adult female mice, serum and LPA exposure increased dopaminergic cell numbers in the midbrain (Bregma coordinates −3.00 to −3.80; tyrosine hydroxylase (TH+, green). Ki16425 treatment (Ki+serum) prevents TH+ cell number increases. (b) Serum exposure, but not LPA, reduces parvalbumin cell number (PV+, green) in the prelimbic medial prefrontal cortex (Bregma coordinates 1.80–1.40) independent of LPA₁ signaling. (c) Hippocampal neurogenesis (number of DCX+/PCNA+ cells) was not affected (Bregma coordinates −1.20 to −2.00). All data were analyzed with two-way multivariate analysis of variance comparisons between groups (vehicle, serum, LPA and Ki16425+serum when applicable). n=4–7 per group, mean±s.e.m. ^*P<0.05, ^**P<0.01, ^****P<0.0001. LPA, lysophosphatidic acid; NS, not significant; PCNA, proliferating cell nuclear antigen; VTA, ventral tegmental area.