Neuroanatomical study of somatomotor cortex in microcephalic mice induced by cytosine arabinoside

Abstract

Somatomotor cortex of mice with microcephaly induced by DNA polymerase inhibitor cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C), has been studied with a modified Golgi-Cox staining and a HRP retrograde tracing method. Microcephalic mice were prepared by prenatal injections of cytosine arabinoside on days 13.5 and 14.5 of pregnancy. Cytoarchitectonically, the cerebral cortices of adult microcephalic mice are characterized by atypical pyramidal cells with abnormal dendrites and irregular patterns of cellular lamination. Semiquantitative analyses of the abnormality of dendrites in Golgi-Cox preparation indicate that both the degree and direction of ramification are severely affected in Ara-C treated mice. In adult control cerebrum, original neurons of corticospinal tract labeled after HRP injection into the lumbar cord were situated in layer V. In the microcephalic brains, however, HRP labeled neurons, some of which had abnormal polarity, were scattered throughout all layers. This HRP study for corticospinal tract neurons also confirms the irregular pattern of the cortex in which only three layers are recognized.