Decline in age-dependent, MK801-induced injury coincides with developmental switch in parvalbumin expression: cingulate and retrosplenial cortex

Age-dependent, MK801-induced, activated caspase-3 expression in the postnatal brain is generally not observed in neurons expressing calcium-binding proteins (CaBPs), suggesting that apoptosis and calcium buffering are inversely related. In regions such as the cingulate and retrosplenial cortex, injury peaks at postnatal Day 7 (P7) and rapidly diminishes thereafter, whereas expression of calbindin (CB) and calretinin (CR) was relatively low from P0 to P7 and steadily increased from P7 to P14. At ages thereafter, CB and CR expression either remained stable then declined or rapidly declined. Parvalbumin (PV) was generally low-absent prior to P7 but expression dramatically increased from P10 onwards, peaking at P21. These studies suggest calcium entry (through N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDARs)) and buffering (by CaBPs) are integral to normal CNS maturation. Because schizophrenia is associated with glutamate hypo-function, developmental injury, and aberrant CaBP expression, our data indicate that this postnatal brain injury model may offer important insights into the nature of this disorder.