COX-2 pathway changes in hippocampus and cortex of rat offsprings following maternal inflammation during pregnancy / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

Aim: To observe the COX-2 pathway changes in hippocampus and cortex of rat offsprings following maternal inflammation during pregnancy. Methods: Female SD rats were randomly divided into control group and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) group. Rats in LPS group were intraperitonealy injected with LPS 300 μug · kg-1 on 11th, 14th and 18th day of pregnancy, while those in control group were given normal saline. Body weight of offspring rats on 3th, 10th, 20th and 30th day was recorded; on 30th day, the development of nervous system of the offspring rats was tested using water maze test, open field test and spontaneous activity test and so on; the histopathological changes of the hippocampus and cortex were detected by hematoxylineosin staining; the levels of inflammatory factors were measured by ELISA; the protein expression of COX-2 was measured by Western blot. Results: There were no significant differences in the body weight of offspring rats between NS group and LPS group (P >0. 05). In LPS group, it was found that the learning and memory function of rats were impaired, and horizontal movement and spontaneous activities were significantly reduced (P < 0. 05); the hippocampus and cortex neurons showed a significant nuclear pyknosis (P < 0. 05, P<0.01); the levels of PGD2, PGE2, PGI2, TNF- a, IL6 and IL-1 [J in hippocampus and cortex significantly increased (P < 0. 05, P < 0. 01); the protein expression of COX-2 in hippocampus and cortex significantly increased (P<0.01). Conclusions: COX-2 and downstream pathway are involved in the mechanism of brain injury in offsprings of pregnancy inflammation rats.