Figure 11.

Systemic chemotherapy with cytarabine leads to increased and prolonged cell death, and decreased BrdU incorporation, in the adult mouse CNS. Cell death and BrdU incorporation were examined as in Figures 5 and 8. (a) The number of TUNEL⁺ cells was analyzed in control animals and is presented as percent normalized values of controls. Each treatment group consisted of n = 5 animals, including control groups at each time point. Animals that received three cytarabine injections (250 mg/kg on days 1, 3, and 5 leading up to the analysis, where day 1 of analysis equals one day after the last treatment with cytarabine) show marked increases in cell death in the SVZ, CC and DG at various time points after treatment (n = 5 animals per group). (b) BrdU analysis. Animals were treated as for (a). As in Figure 8, the graphs show the percent BrdU⁺ cells per brain area normalized to the number of BrdU⁺ cells in sham-treated animals at various time points after systemic treatment with cytarabine. Data are means ± SEM; *P < 0.01 in comparisons with control animals.