Recent evidences showed that, noise stress causes abnormal changes in structure and function of central nervous system (CNS). The Current study was conducted to evaluate some stereological parameters of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of male pups of Wistar rat after prenatal and early postnatal noise stress. 18 pregnant Wistar rats were randomly divided into prenatal noise-exposed (NE) group, postnatal NE group, and controls. Male pups of NE groups were exposed to noise 100 dB at the frequency ranges of 500–8000 Hz, 4 h per day from gestational day one (GD1) to GD21 for the prenatal NE group, and from postnatal day one (PND1) to PND21 in the postnatal NE group. The Control group animals were maintained under standard condition without noise stimulation. Corticosterone level in plasma was measured using ELISA technique. Changes of the neurons and non-neurons cells number and volume of the mPFC were evaluated by stereological analysis. Tunnel assay was also used for detection of apoptotic cells. Increase in plasma corticosterone level, decrease in the number of neurons, and increase in the apoptotic cells number were observed in both NE groups. Decrease in volume of mPFC and also in non-neurons cells number was observed in the prenatal NE group. An increase in the non-neurons number was seen in the postnatal NE group. Data of the current comparative study showed that, noise stress during prenatal and early postnatal periods can induce the abnormal alteration in some stereological parameters of mPFC in male pups of Wistar rat. These negative alterations were more remarkable after prenatal noise stress.

最近的证据表明，噪声压力导致中枢神经系统（CNS）结构和功能的异常变化。目前的研究是为了评估Wistar大鼠雄性幼仔在产前和产后早期噪声应激后的内侧额叶前皮质（mPFC）的一些立体学参数。将18只Wistar怀胎大鼠随机分为产前噪声暴露（NE）组，产后NE组和对照组。NE组的雄性幼崽在500–8000 Hz的频率范围内暴露于噪声下，从胎龄NE组的妊娠第一天（GD1）到GD21，每天从出生第一天（PND1）到PND21，每天4 h在产后NE组。对照组动物保持在标准条件下，没有噪音刺激。使用ELISA技术测量血浆中的皮质酮水平。通过立体分析评估mPFC的神经元和非神经元细胞数量和体积的变化。隧道测定法也用于检测凋亡细胞。在两个NE组中均观察到血浆皮质酮水平升高，神经元数量减少和凋亡细胞数量增加。在产前NE组中观察到mPFC体积的减少以及非神经元细胞数量的减少。产后NE组中非神经元数目增加。当前比较研究的数据表明，产前和产后早期的噪声应激可诱发Wistar大鼠雄性幼崽mPFC的某些立体学参数异常改变。在产前噪声应激后，这些负面变化更为明显。