Maternal Death Model Decreases the Expression of BDNF in Rattus Norvegicus Newborns’ cerebrum and cerebellum

Maternal death occured in the initial pregnancy period up to 42 days after giving birth. Maternal death could cause early life stress in newborns which activated the HPA axis and glucocorticoid secretion as a stress hormone marker. The developing brain was very sensitive to the initial exposure to stressors that would affected the Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) expression, which was one of the most important endogenous mediators of stress responses in the brain. This study aimed to analyze BDNF expression in the cerebrum and cerebellum of Rattus norvegicus newborn with the maternal death model. The control group (K1) consisted of newborns Rattus norvegicus which were not separated from the mother until 3 days old and the treatment group (K2) is maternal death model consisted of newborns Rattus norvegicus which were separated immediately from the mother after birth until 3 days old and fed with animal milk as a substitute nutrient. After 3 days treatments, 3 newborns with the heaviest, medium, and lowest weights were taken from each mother to sacrifice. BDNF examination was carried out on cerebrum and cerebellum with imunohistochemical method and the results were analyzed with Mann Whitney test. The results showed that the mean BDNF expression in the cerebrum and cerebellum of 3 days old Rattus norvegicus with maternal death model which were separated from the mother lower than the mean BDNF expression of control group.