Age and Gender-Dependent in Nitric Oxide Postnatal Change Activity in the Rat Brain

Abstract

The postnatal period represents the critical window referring to specific intervals of time during which the brain's development exhibits increased sensitivity to specific types of learning and external influences. This period is usually associated with the development of age-related neurodevelopmental processes. Nitric oxide (NO) is an essential signaling molecules that play an important role in physiological processes including neuronal survival and differentiation, neurogenesis, synaptogenesis, pruning, and brain plasticity. In the present study, we aimed to determine the activity of NO during the early and late critical periods of structural and functional maturation of the central nervous system (CNS). In this study, we focused on the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, striatum, and hypothalamus of male and female "Wistar" rat pups, as these areas have differential developing states. NO level was determined on postnatal days (PND)