BACKGROUND The brain development during the prenatal period is affected by various factors, including the mother's metabolic condition. It has been revealed that diabetes in pregnancy is associated with structural and functional alterations in offspring's hippocampus. Hippocampus, as a critical region with well-known roles in learning and memory consolidation, is vulnerable to changes in glucose level. This study was designed to investigate the effects of maternal diabetes during the pregnancy period and insulin therapy on the neuronal density and the volume of different subfields of the hippocampus in rat offspring at postnatal day 14 (P14). METHODS Wistar female rats were randomly divided into diabetics (STZ-D), diabetes treated with insulin (STZ-INS) group, and controls (CON). The animals in all groups were mated by non-diabetic male rats. Two weeks after birth, male pups from each group were sacrificed. The Cavalieri method was carried out to estimate the total volume, and the numerical density of the neurons in the hippocampus and its sub regions was measured by the optical dissector technique. RESULTS Bilateral hippocampal volume decreased in the diabetic group, mainly in the CA1, dentate gyrus (DG) and subiculum areas (P ≤ 0.05), when compared to control and insulin-treated diabetic animals. In all hippocampus sub-regions, maternal diabetes resulted in a significant decrease in the number of cells in comparison with two other groups (P ≤ 0.01 each). CONCLUSION These data indicate that diabetes during pregnancy has a negative impact on the development of the hippocampus in the rats. These changes in the volume of hippocampal CA1, DG, and subiculum areas might be at the core of underlying neurocognitive and neurobehavioral impairments observed in the children of diabetic mothers.

中文翻译：

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妊娠期糖尿病大鼠后代海马体的体积调查-体视学研究

背景技术产前大脑发育受多种因素影响，包括母亲的代谢状况。研究表明，妊娠期糖尿病与后代海马体的结构和功能改变有关。海马作为在学习和记忆巩固中具有众所周知作用的关键区域，容易受到葡萄糖水平变化的影响。本研究旨在研究妊娠期母体糖尿病和胰岛素治疗对出生后第 14 天 (P14) 大鼠后代神经元密度和海马不同亚区体积的影响。方法 Wistar雌性大鼠随机分为糖尿病组（STZ-D）、糖尿病胰岛素治疗组（STZ-INS）和对照组（CON）。所有组的动物均由非糖尿病雄性大鼠交配。出生两周后，处死每组的雄性幼崽。采用Cavalieri法估算总体积，采用光学解剖技术测量海马及其亚区神经元的数值密度。结果与对照组和胰岛素治疗的糖尿病动物相比，糖尿病组的双侧海马体积减少，主要是在 CA1、齿状回 (DG) 和下丘脑区 (P ≤ 0.05)。在所有海马亚区中，与其他两组相比，母体糖尿病导致细胞数量显着减少（每组 P ≤ 0.01）。结论 这些数据表明妊娠期糖尿病对大鼠海马体的发育有负面影响。