The effects of Streptozotocin on spinal cord motor neurons count in rat: A stereological study

INTRODUCTION: In this study we investigated effects of Streptozotocin (STZ) administered at different doses on the total number of neurons in segment Thoracic 11 (T11) of the spinal cord of adult rats by using stereological methods
METHODS: Twenty-eight adult male Wistar albino rats were used. The rats were divided into four groups; control group, saline group (0.5 ml of 0.9% NaCl i.p.), 45mg/kg of STZ (i.p.) group and 65 mg/kg of STZ (i.p) exposed group. At the seventh day, the rats were perfused with 10% neutral buffered formaldehyde. T11, which is one of the transverse spinal cord segments, was isolated and processed for routine histologic examination. Semithin sections (0.5µm thick) were obtained using a ultramicrotome according to systematic random sampling strategies. The sections were stained with Toluidine Blue with Borax. The motor neurons were counted unbiased stereological disector/Cavalieri combination method. The groups were compared statistically.
RESULTS: . In terms of motor neuron number, no significant difference among the groups was found (p>0.05).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Our results indicated that exposure to different doses of Streptozotocin has no effect on the T11 segment of the spinal cord total motor neuron number of the adult rats