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. 2010 Jan 27;30(4):1270–1287. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5408-09.2010

Figure 3.

Figure 3.

Age- and region-specific alterations in striatal TH expression following prenatal immune challenge. Pregnant mice were exposed to the viral mimic Poly-I:C or vehicle treatment, and the effects on striatal TH expression were investigated in the resulting offspring at the fetal (GD19), peripubertal (PND35), and adult (PND70) stages of development using optical densitometry of immunohistochemically stained coronal brain sections. A, Maternal Poly-I:C treatment significantly increased TH immunoreactivity in the caudate putamen region of the fetal striatum relative to maternal vehicle treatment. However, at the peripubertal stage of development, offspring born to Poly-I:C-treated mothers displayed a significant reduction in TH immunoreactivity in the CPu relative to age-matched control offspring, but no significant group differences in CPu TH immunoreactivity were present at adult age. *p < 0.05, based on Fisher's LSD post hoc group comparisons of GD19 or PND35 specimen following the presence of a significant two-way interaction in the initial 2 × 3 (prenatal treatment × age) ANOVA (F(2,63) = 6.11, p < 0.01). B, Prenatal Poly-I:C exposure did not significantly influence TH immunoreactivity in the NAc region of the fetal striatum relative to maternal vehicle treatment. However, the prenatal immunological manipulation significantly decreased TH immunoreactivity in both NAc core and shell at the peripubertal stage of development, but it significantly increased NAc core and shell TH immunoreactivity in adult offspring relative to age-matched control offspring. *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01, based on Fisher's LSD post hoc group comparisons of PND35 or PND70 specimen following the presence of a significant two-way interaction in the initial 2 × 2 (prenatal treatment × postnatal age) ANOVA (NAc core: F(1,42) = 14.79, p < 0.001; NAc shell: F(1,42) = 15.52, p < 0.05). C, Representative images of coronal brain sections of fetal (GD19), peripubertal (PND35), and adult (PND70) offspring derived from vehicle- or Poly-I:C-treated mothers stained for TH by immunohistochemistry. 1, CPu; 2, NAc; 2A, NAc core; 2B, NAc shell. Scale bars, 500 μm. All values in A and B are means ± SEM. The numbers of offspring included in the analyses were N(GD19-vehicle) = 12, N(GD19-Poly-I:C) = 11, N(PND35-vehicle) = 12, N(PND35-Poly-I:C) = 11, N(PND70-vehicle) = 11, N(PND70-Poly-I:C) = 12.