Chronic mild stress increases the number of hippocampal dentate gyrus TUNEL-positive neurons after ischemia in rat.

<p>Representative microphotographs of TUNEL-stained hippocampal dentate gyrus at 28 days after ischemia in a rat. A, MCAO+CMS; B, CON; C, CMS; D, MCAO; E, MCAO+CMS; F, MCAO+CMS+D. G, the ratio of TUNEL-positive neurons were analyzed at 28 days after cerebral ischemia, number of each group = 6. ^#<i>P</i><0.05 compared with CON, ^▴<i>P</i><0.05 MCAO + CMS compared with MCAO, ^★<i>P</i><0.05 MCAO + CMS + D compared with MCAO + CMS. CON, Control; CMS, Chronic mild stress; MCAO, Middle cerebral artery occlusion; D, DAPT (N-[N-(3,5-difluorophenacetyl-L-alanyl)]-S-phenyl-glycine t-butyl ester); TUNEL, Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (A, magnification, 20×; B–F, magnification, 40×).