Whole brain, third ventricle and corpus callosum structural abnormalities in the brains of IUGR animals.

<p>Animals were initially separated into different severities of IUGR based on birth weight; moderate IUGR animals had significantly lower birthweights than sham controls and mild IUGR animals, while mild IUGR only had significantly lower birthweight than sham controls (A). Although weight eventually normalized in adulthood (B), animals classified to have moderate IUGR at birth displayed persistent decreases in total brain area in adulthood, though this was not the case for mild IUGR animals (C). Representative whole-brain sections are depicted in (D-F) for sham, mild IUGR, and moderate IUGR, respectively. The CC is delineated in (G-I) for sham, mild IUGR, and moderate IUGR, respectively. Both groups of IUGR animals also displayed significant ventricular enlargement at the level of the diencephalon when compared to sham controls (J). The area of the CC was reduced in IUGR animals when compared to sham controls, and the CC of moderate IUGR animals was significantly smaller than mild IUGR animals (K). The thickness of the CC was also significantly reduced in both mild and moderate IUGR groups when compared to sham animals (L). Scale Bar = 1000 μm; *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001.