Effect of thyroid deficiency on the development of glia in the hippocampal formation of the rat: an immunocytochemical study.

The development of glia in the hippocampal formation of normal and hypothyroid rats was studied using immunocytochemical staining for either glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) or vimentin. Light microscopy showed lower GFAP immunoreactivity in the radial glial processes of young hypothyroid rats compared to normal animals. These processes followed the known path of neuroblast migration toward the proliferative zone of the dentate gyrus until the end of the 1st postnatal week. Vimentin immunoreactivity showed that the glial processes were present and therefore immature at least with respect to their cytoskeletal composition. We propose that this early defect in the maturation of the radial glial fibers accounts for the final deficit in the granule cells of the dentate gyrus. Later in development, thyroid deficiency also reduced the density and number of GFAP-labeled astrocytes and the growth of their processes. This observation is in complete disagreement with the glial hypertrophy induced by thyroid deficiency in the cerebellum. The considerably increased histogenetic cell death observed in the cerebellum of young hypothyroid rats could in turn induce glial hypertrophy, whereas the hippocampal formation, where a normal low number of cell deaths is observed, is only subjected to the general depressive effect of thyroid deficiency on cell maturation.