Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 15, 2026
Preparation of Acute Hippocampal Slices from Rats and Transgenic Mice for the Study of Synaptic Alterations during Aging and Amyloid Pathology
Published on: March 23, 2011
Iodine deficiency increases apoptosis and decreases synaptotagmin-1 and PSD-95 in rat hippocampus
Jing Dong1, Yuan Wang, Yi Wang
1Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang, P R China.
Objective:
Developmental iodine deficiency (ID) leads to inadequate thyroid hormone that impairs the development of the central nervous system with an unclear mechanism. Here, we show that hippocampal apoptosis, synaptotagmin-1, and PSD-95 are involved in the synaptic impairment following developmental ID.
Methods:
Two developmental rat models were created by administrating dam rats with either iodine-deficient diet or propylthiouracil (PTU, 15 ppm)-added drinking water from gestational day 6 till postnatal day (PND) 28. Then, the apoptosis in the hippocampus was determined by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling assay, and the levels of synaptotagmin-1 and PSD-95 were detected with western blot on PND14, PND21, and PND28.
Results:
The results showed that apoptosis cells and activity of caspase3 were increased in the iodine-deficient and PTU-treatment rats (P < 0.05, respectively). The iodine-deficient and PTU-treatment pups showed significantly lower level of synaptotagmin-1 and PSD-95 in hippocampus than that of controls (P < 0.05, respectively).
Conclusion:
Developmental ID resulted in the increase and delay of cell apoptosis and the decrease of synaptotagmin-1 and PSD-95 in the hippocampus, which were implicated in the impairment of brain development.
