Effect of unilateral basal ganglia hemorrhage on long-term behavioral development of neonatal rats

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effect of unilateral basal ganglia hemorrhage on long-term behavio-ral development of neonatal SD rats. Methods Forty-eight neonatal SD rats (10 days after birth) were equally divided into cerebral hemorrhage (CH) group, sham operation (SH) group and normal control (NC) group randomly, 16 cases for each group.Stereotaxic apparatus was used to inject autologous blood 25 μL into rats′ brain caudate nu-cleus to establish basal ganglia hemorrhage model, while SH group was injected with nothing, and NC group received no treatment.Berderson scoring method was used to test rats′ neurological functions on the first day, the third day, the seventh day, and the fourteenth day after operation, respectively.The open-field environment test and the Lat maze were used to assess behavior of the rats on the fourteenth day after operation, lasting for 3 days continuously. Results (1)After being modeled rats appeared with different degrees of neurological function damage.SH group rats′ neurological function damage was slight, which was completely restored in the 72 hours after surgery.CH group rats appeared hemiplegia and muscle tension change.CH rats neurological scores′ on the first and third day after modeling scores were separate (3.40±0.83) scores and (1.13±0.92) scores respectively, and the scores were statistically higher than SH group [(0.73±0.59) scores and (0.13±0.35) scores]and NC group (all P 0.05). (2)On the fourteenth day after modeling, in open-field test and the Lat maze, the number of passed panels, straightening(times) and grooming(times) in CH group were more than those in SH group and NC group respectively (all P 0.05). Conclusions Neonatal rats focal hemorrhage in unilateral basal ganglia is strongly repairable and compensatory, which leaves no severe neurological dysfunction.The neurological function damage which is caused by unilateral basal ganglia hemorrhage can lead to the increase of autonomic activities, the decrease of non-selective attention level, attention deficit and other long-term behavioral abnormalities. Key words: Cerebral hemorrhage; Basal ganglia; Behavioral development; Neonatal period; Rat