Study of synapse structure and synaptophysin in Streptozotocin-diabetic rats hippocampus

Objective To compare the hippocampal volume and cognitive handicap between the normal control and STZ-induced diabetic rats with the stereological techniques.Methods After 12 weeks of diabetes,spatial learning and memory of rats were tested with the Morris water maze.The total volume of hippocampus were estimated with the stereological techniques.Results In Morris water maze,compared with the normal control rats,STZ-induced diabetic rats showed that the escaping latency was prolonged(21.10 s(10.95 ~29.03 s)vs 13.16 s(9.97 ~21.34 s),P0.05) and percentage of stay time in the central area((15.03±3.36)%vs.(25.33±1.91)%,P0.05) decrease.The total volume of hippocampus of diabetic rats were lower than those of the normal control rats,but the differences were not statistically significant(P0.05).Conclusions There are no significant changes of volume of hippocampus of diabetic rats with impairments in cognition.