ABSTRACT
Objectives To observe the expression of death receptor 6 (DR6) in neonatal rats with hypoxia-ischemia brain damage (HIBD). Methods HIBD was induced in day 7 rats. The expression of DR6 at 24 h, 72 h and 7 d after HIBD and the expression of Caspase-3 at 24 h were evaluated by immunostaining. The injury of neural cells was evaluated by cresyl violet at 7 d after HIBD. The cognitive function was evaluated by T-maze test at 60 d after HIBD. Results DR6 positive cells were the most abundant in the ipsilateral cortex at 24 h after HIBD, and decreased gradually at 72 h and 7 d after HIBD. There was signiifcant difference of the expression of DR6 among different time points in HIBD group (P<0.01). Compared with control group, DR6 positive cells were more abundant in the ipsilateral cortex at 24 h and 72 h after HIBD (P<0.01) and caspase-3 positive cells were more abundant in the ipsilateral cortex at 24 h after HIBD (P<0.05). The number of cortical neurons were decreased at 7 d after HIBD as compared with control group (P<0.05). The T-maze test showed there was decline of the cognition in HIBD group com-pared with control group (P<0.05). Conclusions The DR6 signaling pathway plays an important role in cerebral cortex injury which may lead to the subsequent neurofunctional deifcits in neonatal HIBD rats.