Effect of early weaning on apoptosis in the gastric epithelium of rats under postnatal development

• Grant number: 11/07516-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2011
• End date: November 30, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Morphology - Cytology and Cell Biology
• Principal Investigator: Luciana Harumi Osaki
• Grantee: Camila Kamla Martinatti
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Growth of the stomach depends on the balance between cell proliferation, migration, differentiation and death. This balance is controlled by the interaction of several factors, among them are diet, hormones and growth factors. The change on dietary pattern of pups submitted to early weaning causes alterations in the gastric mucosa such as stimulated cell proliferation and differentiation, suggesting also a modification on apoptosis. However there is no information about the number of apoptotic cells in the gastric epithelium after abrupt milk withdrawal. Therefore, our aim is to study apoptosis in the gastric mucosa of rats submitted to early weaning by using hematoxilin and eosin stained slides for morphological analysis, immunofluorescence with M30-CytoDeath antibody and Western blot for caspase-3.