Morphological Changes in Hippocampal Ca1 Area in Diabetic Rats: A Golgi-impregnation Study

Background and Objective: Although diabetes mellitus is known to be one of the risk factors for dementia but neuropathic changes in the brain of diabetic patients have not been completely revealed. Therefore, this research study was done to evaluate structural changes in pyramidal neurons of hippocampal CA1 area of male diabetic rats using Golgi-impregnation method. Materials and Methods: Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into control and diabetic groups. For induction of diabetes, streptozotocin (STZ) was injected (i.p.) at a single dose of 60 mg/kg. At the end of 1st and 2nd months, rats were transcardially perfused and Golgi-impregnation method was used to evaluate the changes of dendritic spines in CA1 area. Results: It was found out that there was a significant reduction in mean density of pyramidal neuron dendritic spines after 1 and 2 months in diabetic group as compared to age-matched controls (p<0.05 and p<0.01 respectively). Conclusion: Taken together, there is a time-dependent pattern in diabetes-induced modification of dendritic architecture in CA1 area that itself is strongly involved in some aspects of learning and cognitive processes.