Mannitol induces selective astroglial death in the CA1 region of the rat hippocampus following status epilepticus

• Published in: BMB reports Vol. 48; no. 9; pp. 507 - 512
• Main Authors: Ko, Ah-Reum, Kang, Tae-Cheon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) Korean Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 01.09.2015; 생화학분자생물학회
• Subjects: Animals; Astrocytes - drug effects; Astrocytes - pathology; Brain Edema - pathology; CA1 Region, Hippocampal - drug effects; CA1 Region, Hippocampal - pathology; Cell Death - drug effects; Male; Mannitol - pharmacology; Models, Animal; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Status Epilepticus - pathology; 화학
• ISSN: 1976-6696; 1976-670X
• DOI: 10.5483/BMBRep.2015.48.9.013

In the present study, we addressed the question of whether treatment with mannitol, an osmotic diuretic, affects astrogliovascular responses to status epilepticus (SE). In saline-treated animals, astrocytes exhibited reactive astrogliosis in the CA1-3 regions 2-4 days after SE. In the mannitol-treated animals, a large astroglial empty zone was observed in the CA1 region 2 days after SE. This astroglial loss was unrelated to vasogenic edema formation. There was no difference in SE-induced neuronal loss between saline- and mannitol-treated animals. Furthermore, mannitol treatment did not affect astroglial loss and vasogenic edema formation in the dentate gyrus and the piriform cortex. These findings suggest that mannitol treatment induces selective astroglial loss in the CA1 region independent of vasogenic edema formation following SE. These findings support the hypothesis that the susceptibility of astrocytes to SE is most likely due to the distinctive heterogeneity of astrocytes independent of hemodynamics.