Postnatal treatment with NAN-190 but not with 5-HT1A receptor agonists retards growth of the rat brain

We investigated the influence of prolonged administration of the 5-HT1A receptor agonists (8-OH-DPAT or buspirone) or its antagonist, NAN-190 to rat pups on development of their cortical barrel field. Pups were injected daily with the drugs starting from the day of birth till either the 5th postnatal day or the 22-25th postnatal day and were perfused one day later. Square areas of their whisker barrel fields were measured on tangential sections of the cortex stained for cytochrome oxidase. Injections of 8-OH-DPAT or buspirone till the 5th postnatal day did not change any of the investigated parameters, while injections of NAN-190 resulted in 15% reduction of the pups' body and brain weight and proportional reduction of the square area of their barrel fields. Groups treated till the 22-25th postnatal day showed similar results. Some of these pups were injected with [C14]2-deoxyglucose to investigate the strength of responses of their cortical barrels to stimulation of corresponding vibrissae. The cortical area labeled with 2-deoxyglucose after stimulation of vibrissae of the row C was narrower in the NAN-190 injected rats. This functional deficit was more pronounced than the anatomical one, which resembled the effects of neonatal serotonin depletion (Neuroreport, 1997). Therefore, the results of injecting NAN-190 to the rat pups point to a deficit of trophic developmental influences of serotonin, adding new arguments for the hypothesis of a trophic role of 5-HT1A receptors in the brain development.