Anorexia Reduces GFAP+ Cell Density in the Rat Hippocampus

Figure 4

Effect of dehydration-induced anorexia (DIA) on astrocyte density of hippocampal region CA3. Coronal sections of the hippocampus show DAPI (a) or GFAP immunostaining (b). The overlay of DAPI and GFAP is shown for control, dehydration-induced anorexia (DIA), and forced-food restricted (FFR) experimental groups (c). Neither the density of nuclei nor the astrocyte/nuclei ratio differed significantly among groups ( and , resp.). However, a significant reduction of GFAP+ cell density was observed () (see Table 1). Nuclear and astrocyte densities were estimated in the stratum oriens (s.o.) and stratum radiatum (s.r.); stratum pyramidale (s.p.) is indicated as an anatomical reference. Scale bar = 50 μm. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM.

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