Table 2. Acute neurologic status of rats in the study.
Eleven-day-old male and female rat pups were randomly assigned to either sham- or brain-injured groups. Sham- and brain-injured rats were randomly assigned to receive daily injections of sesame oil (vehicle) or progesterone (PROG). Subsets of the animals tested in the behavioral assays were randomly assigned to be euthanized for mRNA measurements, histology and whole-cell patch clamp electrophysiology. Latency to regain righting reflex and times of apnea were recorded as described in the Methods.
| Outcome | Group | N (male, female) | Righting reflex (s) |
Apnea (s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Behavior | Sham + vehicle | 29 (13, 16) | 70 ± 8 | NA |
| Sham + PROG | 23 (10, 13) | 63 ± 8 | NA | |
| Injured + vehicle | 35 (17, 18) | 185 ± 14* | 16 ± 2 | |
| Injured + PROG | 34 (16, 18) | 205 ± 15* | 21 ± 3 | |
| qRT-PCR | Sham + vehicle | 9 (3,6) | 73 ± 7 | NA |
| Sham + PROG | 5 (2, 3) | 46 ± 12 | NA | |
| Injured + vehicle | 12 (5, 7) | 144 ± 15* | 14 ± 1 | |
| Injured + PROG | 12 (5, 7) | 182 ± 26* | 16 ± 3 | |
| Histology | Sham + vehicle | 8 (4, 4) | 95 ± 19 | NA |
| Sham + PROG | 6 (2, 4) | 73 ± 19 | NA | |
| Injured + vehicle | 6 (3, 3) | 224 ± 50* | 17 ± 2 | |
| Injured + PROG | 10 (5, 5) | 237 ± 35* | 29 ± 4 | |
| Whole cell patch clamp | Sham + vehicle | 12 (6, 6) | 51 ± 12 | NA |
| Sham + PROG | 12 (6, 6) | 66 ± 11 | NA | |
| Injured + vehicle | 17 (9, 8) | 201 ± 21* | 18 ± 3 | |
| Injured + PROG | 12 (6, 6) | 202 ± 12* | 18 ± 2 |
*,
p<0.05 compared to sham-injured rats.