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Perinatal Asphyxia Reduces the Number of Reelin Neurons in the Prelimbic Cortex and Deteriorates Social Interaction in Rats

Obstetrical complications of perinatal asphyxia (PA) can often induce lesions that, in the long-term, manifest as schizophrenia. A deterioration of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and a reduction in the number of GABAergic neurons are commonly observed in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. In this study, we investigated the link between PA, reelin and calbindin diminution and psychiatric diseases that involve social interaction deficits. This was achieved by observing the effect of 19 min of asphyxia on both subpopulations of GABAergic neurons. PA was produced by water immersion of fetus-containing uterus horns removed by cesarean section from ready-to-deliver rats. PA generated a significant and specific decrease in the number of reelin-secreting neurons in mPFC layer VI [F(2, 6) = 8.716, p = 0.016; PA vs. vaginal controls (VC), p = 0.03, and PA vs. cesarean controls (CC), p = 0.022]. This reduction reached approximately 60% on average. Changes in the percentage of reelin neurons including all the cortex layers did not achieve a significant outcome but a trend: CC % 10.61 ± 1.34; PA % 8.64 ± 1.71 [F(2, 6) = 1.299, p = 0.33]. In the case of calbindin, there was a significant decrease in cell density in the PA group [2-way repeated-measures ANOVA, F(1, 4) = 13.03, p = 0.0226]. The multiple-comparisons test showed significant differences in the superficial aspect of layer II (Sidak test for multiple comparisons CC vs. PA at 200 µm: p = 0.003). A small, but significant difference could be seen when the distance from the pia mater to the start of layer VI was analyzed (CC mean ± SEM = 768.9 ± 8.382; PA mean ± SEM = 669.3 ± 17.75; p = 0.036). Rats exposed to PA showed deterioration in social interactions, which manifested as a decrease in play soliciting. In this model, which involved severe/moderate asphyxia, we did not find significant changes in locomotive activity or anxiety indicators in the open field task. The loss of reelin neurons could be conducive to the shrinkage of the prelimbic cortex through the reduction in neuropil and the deterioration of the function of this structure.