Nitrergic neurons during early postnatal development of the prefrontal cortex in the rat: Histochemical study

The presence of nitrergic cells in the prefrontal cortex has been confirmed, however little is known about the postnatal development of these cells. Nitrergic neurons were studied histochemically by using NADPH-diaphorase staining in the prefrontal cortex of male Wistar rats from postnatal day 7–21 (P7–21). Neuronal NADPH-diaphorase is a nitric oxide synthase that provides a specific histochemical marker for neurons producing nitric oxide (NO). NO acts as a neurotransmitter and intracellular signaling molecule in the nervous system. We observed in 7 day old rats NADPH-d containing neurons that were intensely stained. These neurons were bipolar with a short dendrite with average length of 23 μm. During the second postnatal week, the neurons were mainly bipolar and were rarely multipolar. By P14 the cells were located primarily in cortical layers III–VI. Nitrergic neurons of the 21 day old rats were histochemically identified as multipolar cells with long radial extending dendrites. Dendrites of neurons in 14 and 21 day old rats were a similar length with an average of 57 μm. These results suggest that nitrergic neurons differentiate during a relatively short period of time and reach their structural maturity by the end of the second week of postnatal development.