Table 2.
Acute Neurological Status of Rats in the Study
| Group |
n (Male, Female) |
Righting reflex (sec) |
Apnea (sec) |
Hematoma |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mild |
Moderate |
Severe |
||||
| Group 1 (No Virus-MWM) | ||||||
| Sham | 29 (14, 15) | 57.6 ± 3.9 | - | - | - | - |
| Injured | 31 (16, 15) | 189.4 ± 10.1* | 16.1 ± 0.8 | 11 | 20 | 0 |
| Group 2 (LV-GR-MWM) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sham+Control |
16 (7, 9) |
52.9 ± 5.4 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| Sham+GR |
17 (8, 9) |
50.9 ± 3.4 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| Injured+Control |
16 (8, 8) |
221.9 ± 9.8* |
20.5 ± 0.9 |
3 |
11 |
2 |
| Injured+GR | 19 (10, 9) | 217.5 ± 14.3* | 21.8 ± 1.3 | 4 | 13 | 2 |
| Group 3 (1 Day MWM) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sham+Control |
8 (4, 4) |
50.9 ± 6.7 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| Sham+GR |
10 (6, 4) |
58.9 ± 7.8 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| Injured+Control |
8 (4, 4) |
206.1 ± 29.5* |
18.4 ± 2.1 |
1 |
6 |
1 |
| Injured+GR | 10 (5, 5) | 245.9 ± 16.1 | 18.4 ± 1.1 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
Three separate cohorts of 11-day-old male and female rat pups were randomly assigned to either sham- or brain-injured groups. Sham- and brain-injured rats in the first cohort which did not receive virus injections were used for behavioral testing and were subsequently used for long-term potentiation recordings in hippocampal slices. The second and third animal cohorts were randomly assigned to receive an injection of lentivirus (LV) containing glucocorticoid receptor (GR) or control lentivirus. Subsets of the animals tested in the behavioral assays were randomly assigned to be used for histology or long-term potentiation recordings in hippocampal slices. Animals tested in the Morris water maze (MWM) for 1 day were subsequently used for and mRNA or protein measurements using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blot, respectively. Latency to regain righting reflex and times of apnea were recorded as described in the Methods.
p < 0.05 compared with sham-injured rats.