Time Course of Hippocampal Glucose Utilization and Persistence of Parvalbumin Immunoreactive Neurons after Ibotenic Acid—Induced Lesions of the Rat Dentate Area

The effects of ibotenic acid induced lesions of the dentate gyrus on hippocampal glucose utilization and parvalbumin-positive neurons were evaluated in male Wistar rats. Ibotenic acid was injected in the right dorsal dentate gyrus. Quantification of glucose utilization was performed 3 days, 3 weeks, or 3 months after the lesion using the ¹⁴C-2-deoxyglucose method. Nissl-stained sections and sections stained for acetylcholinesterase were used as references for anatomical delineation of the hippocampal cytoarchitecture. Additional sections were stained for parvalbumin. The results revealed widespread reductions of glucose utilization in all layers and sectors of the hippocampus in the ipsilateral lesioned hemisphere and also in the nonlesioned contralateral hemisphere. The reductions occurred as early as 3 days after the lesion and persisted up to 3 months. In neither hippocampal structure did glucose utilization return to control levels. Immunohistochemical visualization of parvalbumin-containing neurons revealed that these putatively inhibitory neurons persisted in the otherwise granule-cell-depleted area. The data show that interruption of the excitatory trisynaptic pathway from the entorhinal cortex to the CA1 at the level of the dentate gyrus affects hippocampal glucose utilization irreversibly and uniformly. Since some inhibitory neurons seem to survive the ibotenic acid lesion, we suggest that the reductions of hippocampal glucose utilization reflect an imbalance in favor of inhibitory neurons in the ipsilateral hippocampus after the lesion, which manifests also in the contralateral hemisphere via the commissural pathways.