Abstract
Several studies have shown that astroglia plays an important role on the physiology of the central nervous system. However, still little research has focused on the analysis of the astroglial population during the postnatal development, and the possible influence of biological factors like sex. Using stereological methods, the total number of glial fibrillary acidic protein immunoreactive (GFAP-ir) astrocytes and their morphology, were estimated in CA1 and CA3 hippocampal areas from 21 and 90day-old male and female rats. The number of GFAP-ir astrocytes were significantly increased according to age in both hippocampal areas from females, but the same result was obtained only in the CA3 area of males. In addition, no gender differences were found in both hippocampal areas at 21 days of age, but the opposite result was found at 90 days of age. Numerical changes and gender differences in the developing hippocampal astrocyte population are discussed as related to their possible functional meaning.
