Relationships between astrocytes and absence epilepsy in rat: An experimental study

摘要

Astrocytes take part in the modulation of neuronal activity through the uptake and release of both GABA and glutamate. In the present study we aimed to quantify the number of astrocytes expressing the astrocyte marker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in the somatosensory cortex (SSCx), ventrobasal (VB), centromedial (CM), reticular (TRN) and dorsal lateral geniculate (dLGN) nuclei of thalamus in Genetic Absence Epilepsy Rats from Strasbourg (GAERS), Wistar Albino Glaxo Rats from Rijswijk (WAG/Rij) and control Wistar animals. Further, we aimed to compare the GFAP protein expression levels between the three animal strains.