Chloroquine effects on intrauterine and postnatal dendritic maturation of hippocampal neurons and on lipid composition of the developing rat brain

Abstract

The aim of the study was to analyse the intrauterine effects of Chloroquine on the dendritic maturation in the hippocampal region under considering of the lipid composition in brain tissue. 131 brains of rat pups from day 22 of pregnancy and 49 brains from offsprings from day 7 of life were investigated. The findings indicate changes in the geometric dendritic architecture of the CA3 neurons on the 7th day of life. The length of apical shaft, apical dendrites and basilar dendrites of the CA3 neurons showed a significant elongation (p < 0.05) under low doses of Chloroquine. Furthermore a early considerable formation of dendritic spines during the intrauterine period could be observed for CA1 spines at the day 22 p.c. A significant increase of the fatty acids, a reduced amount of sphingomyelines, cephalines and gangliosides was found. These results underline the fact of a mild toxic effect under a low dosis of Chloroquine in our model.