Anorexia Reduces GFAP+ Cell Density in the Rat Hippocampus

Figure 3

Effect of dehydration-induced anorexia (DIA) on astrocyte density of hippocampal region CA2. 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). The density of the nuclei was similar in all experimental groups (). However, a significant reduction of GFAP+ cells was observed for the DIA and FFR groups (). This reduction was consistently observed in the astrocyte/nuclei ratio () (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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