Figure 5.

Selective enhancement of postnatal brain apoptosis after immune challenge on late but not middle gestation. a–c, e, Distribution of activated caspase-3-immunoreactive cells in the dorsal dentate gyrus of representative control animals (a) and offspring subjected to prenatal PolyI:C exposure on GD9 (b) or GD17 (c; higher magnification in e). d, An increase in activated caspase-3-positive cells was observed exclusively in animals exposed to prenatal PolyI:C on GD17, whereas the same treatment on GD9 marginally reduced the number of caspase-3-positive cells compared with control brain tissue, leading to a significant difference between the two prenatal PolyI:C conditions. n = 4 in each treatment group. The values in d are mean ± SEM. ∗p < 0.05, statistical significance based on Fisher's LSD post hoc analysis. Scale bars: a–c, 500 μm; e, 50 μm. Cntr, Control.