Chronic maternal morphine alters calbindin D-28k expression pattern in postnatal mouse brain

The distribution pattern of calbindin (CB)-D28k-expressing neurons results to be altered in several brain regions of chronic morphine exposed adult mice. In this study, the influence of chronic maternal exposure to morphine on the distribution pattern of CB-D28k-expressing neurons in the brain of mouse offspring was investigated. Females of CD-1 mice were daily administered with saline or morphine for 7 days before mating, during the whole gestation period, and until 21 day post-partum. Their offspring were sacrificed on postnatal day 18, and the brains were examined by histology using cresyl violet and by immunohistochemistry using a rabbit polyclonal anti-CB-D28k antibody. Histology revealed no significant differences in the distribution pattern and the number of neurons between the offspring forebrain of the control group of mice and the two groups of mice treated with different doses of morphine. However, immunohistochemical analysis revealed that the number of CB-D28k-immunoreactive neurons remarkably decreased in the cingulate cortex, in the layers II-IV of the parietal cortex and in all regions of the hippocampus, while it increased in the layers V-VI of the parietal cortex and in the subicular region of the offspring brain of morphine treated mice. Overall, our findings demonstrate that maternal exposure to morphine alters the pattern of CB-D28k-expressing neuron pattern in specific regions of murine developing brain, in a layer- and dose-dependent way, thus suggesting that these alterations might represent a mechanism by which morphine modifies the functional aspects of developing brain.