Comparison of trophic factors changes in the hippocampal CA1 region between the young and adult gerbil induced by transient cerebral ischemia.

In the present study, we investigated neuronal death/damage in the gerbil hippocampal CA1 region (CA1) and compared changes in some trophic factors, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), in the CA1 between the adult and young gerbils after 5 min of transient cerebral ischemia. Most of pyramidal neurons (89%) were damaged 4 days after ischemia-reperfusion (I-R) in the adult; however, in the young, about 59% of pyramidal neurons were damaged 7 days after I-R. The immunoreactivity and levels of BDNF and VEGF, not GDNF, in the CA1 of the normal young were lower than those in the normal adult. Four days after I-R in the adult group, the immunoreactivity and levels of BDNF and VEGF were distinctively decreased, and the immunoreactivity and level of GDNF were increased. However, in the young group, all of their immunoreactivities and levels were much higher than those in the normal young group. From 7 days after I-R, all the immunoreactivities and levels were apparently decreased compared to those of the normal adult and young. In brief, we confirmed our recent finding: more delayed and less neuronal death occurred in the young following I-R, and we newly found that the immunoreactivities of trophic factors, such as BDNF, GDNF, and VEGF, in the stratum pyramidale of the CA1 in the young gerbil were much higher than those in the adult gerbil 4 days after transient cerebral ischemia.