Neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a poorly understood life-threatening illness afflicting premature infants. Research is hampered by the absence of a suitable method to monitor disease progression noninvasively. The primary goal of this research was to test in vivo MRI methods for the noninvasive early detection and staging of inflammation in the ileum of an infant rat model of NEC. N...

To study the effect of organic Se on spatial learning and memory deficits induced by Pb exposure at different developmental stages, and its relationship with alterations of synaptic structural plasticity, postnatal rat pups were randomly divided into five groups: Control; Pb (Weaned pups were exposed to Pb at postnatal day (PND) 21-42); Pb-Se (Weaned pups were exposed to Se at PND 43-63 after P...

Exposure of immature lungs to hyperoxia for prolonged periods contributes to neonatal lung injury and airway hyperreactivity. We studied the role of disrupted nitric oxide-guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (NO-cGMP) signaling in impairing the relaxant responses of lung tissue from hyperoxia-exposed rat pups. Pups were exposed to >/=95% O(2) or room air for 7 days starting from days 1, 5, or ...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect on hippocampus morphology and learning behavior in rat pups following prenatal exposure to a 900 megahertz (MHz) electromagnetic field (EMF). Female Sprague Dawley rats weighing 180-250 g were left to mate with males. The following day, pregnant rats identified as such by the vaginal smear test were divided into two groups, control (n=3) and E...

BACKGROUND Numerous experiments in rodents suggest a causative link between exposure to general anaesthetics during brain growth spurt and poor long-lasting neurological outcomes. Many of these studies have been questioned with regard of their translational value, mainly because of extremely long anaesthesia exposure. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess the impact of a short s...

Serial EEG recordings from immature rat pups are extremely difficult to obtain but important for analyzing animal models of neonatal seizures and other pediatric neurological conditions as well as normal physiology. In this report, we describe the features and applications of a novel miniature telemetry system designed to record EEG in rat pups as young as postnatal day 6 (P6). First, we have r...

Maternal isolation has been used as a valid animal model of early life stress, and it induces depression to offspring. Exercise ameliorates the incidence and severity of stress-related mood disorders, such as depression and anxiety. Here in this study, we investigated the effects of treadmill exercise on brain neuronal excitation in the rat pups with maternal isolation-induced depression. Force...

Preterm infants are subject to fluctuations in blood gas status associated with immature respiratory control. Intermittent hypoxia during early postnatal life has been shown to increase chemoreceptor sensitivity and destabilize the breathing pattern; however, intermittent hypercapnia remains poorly studied. Therefore, to test the hypothesis that intermittent hypercapnia results in altered respi...

PURPOSE Prenatal environmental conditions affect the development of the fetus. In the present study, we investigated the effects of exposure to music and noise during pregnancy on neurogenesis and thickness in the motor and somatosensory cortex of rat pups. METHODS The pregnant rats in the music-applied group were exposed to 65 dB of comfortable music for 1 hour, once per day, from the 15th d...

The role of the serotonergic innervation of the olfactory bulb was examined in neonate rat pups (Sprague-Dawley) by utilizing an olfactory learning paradigm (Sullivan, McGaugh, & Leon, 1991; Sullivan, Wilson, & Leon, 1989). One hundred fifty nanoliters of the neurotoxin 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine (5,7-dHT, 10 micrograms/microliters) was injected into each anterior olfactory nucleus of Postnatal Da...