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Updated: Jun 28, 2026
Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Perinatal asphyxia reduces dentate granule cells and exacerbates methamphetamine-induced hyperlocomotion in adulthood
Tomoyasu Wakuda1, Hideo Matsuzaki, Katsuaki Suzuki
1Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Shizuoka, Japan.
Background:
Obstetric complications have been regarded as a risk factor for schizophrenia later in life. One of the mechanisms underlying the association is postulated to be a hypoxic process in the brain in the offspring around the time of birth. Hippocampus is one of the brain regions implicated in the late-onset dopaminergic dysfunction associated with hypoxic obstetric complications.
Methodology/Principal Findings:
We used an animal model of perinatal asphyxia, in which rat pups were exposed to 15 min of intrauterine anoxia during Cesarean section birth. At 6 and 12 weeks after birth, the behavior of the pups was assessed using a methamphetamine-induced locomotion test. In addition, the histopathology of the hippocampus was examined by means of stereology. At 6 weeks, there was no change in the methamphetamine-induced locomotion. However, at 12 weeks of age, we found an elevation in methamphetamine-induced locomotor activity, which was associated with an increase of dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens. At the same age, we also found a reduction of the dentate granule cells of the hippocampus.
Conclusions/Significance:
These results suggest that the dopaminergic dysregulation after perinatal asphyxia is associated with a reduction in hippocampal dentate granule cells, and this may partly contribute to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia.
