Vol 69, No 1 (2010)
Original article
Published online: 2010-03-09
A morphometric study of the preoptic area of the guinea pig
Folia Morphol 2010;69(1):15-23.
Abstract
The aim of the study was to provide the topography and morphometric characteristics
of the preoptic area (POA) of the guinea pig. The study was carried
out on the brains of sexually mature guinea pigs of both sexes. A uniform
procedure was followed in the study of the paraffin-embedded brain tissue
blocks of males and females. The blocks were cut in the coronal plane into
50 mm sections and stained according to the Nissl method. The guinea pig POA
consists of four parts: the medial preoptic area (MPA), lateral preoptic area
(LPA), periventricular preoptic nucleus (PPN), and median preoptic nucleus
(MPN). The topography and general structure of POA parts are similar in males
and females. However, the PPNa cells of females are more intensely stained
and are more densely packed than the PPNa cells of males. For morphometric
analysis, the MPA and LPA as well as PPN and MPN were considered respectively
as uniform structures, namely MPA-LPA and PPN-MPN. The statistical
analysis showed that the volume of the PPN-MPN was larger in males than in
females, whereas the MPA-LPA volume did not differ between the sexes. Moreover,
the numerical density and the total number of neurons were statistically
larger in males than in females in both the MPA-LPA and PPN-MPN. The parameters
describing POA neurons were larger for MPA-LPA neurons in comparison
with the PPN-MPN neurons. However, in this respect no sex differences
were observed in both studied complexes.
Folia Morphol 2010; 69, 1: 15-23
Folia Morphol 2010; 69, 1: 15-23
Keywords: morphometrymalefemalesex differences