Fig. 3
Prenatal stress reduces reelin expressing neurons and increases reelin methylation in the PFC. a Microphotographs of reelin-expressing neurons in the PFC prenatally (E20). Control brains show numerous clusters of Cajal-Retzius neurons while the PNS (stress) group shows only a few isolated Cajal-Retzius neurons. Scale bars 50 μm. b Bar chart of neurons immunoreactive for reelin (expressed as neurons/mm3). Values are mean ± SEM. c Representative agarose gel electrophoresis showing PCR product of the amplification of the distal reelin promoter region containing an HpaII site (−786/−625). As control, PCR product of the amplification of Ric8B promoter (digestion insensitive to methylation) and RunX promoter (without HpaII sensitive regions) after digestion with HpaII or MspI. d DNA methylation differences between control and PNS (stress) groups were quantified by determining changes in pixel density at the bands amplified by PCR and visualized through conventional DNA electrophoresis. Adapted with modifications from [125]